The Perils of Pits: further research at Durrington Walls henge (2021–2025)

Vincent Gaffney; Eamonn Baldwin; Robin Allaby; Martin Bates; Richard Bates; Alex Finlay; Christopher Gaffney; Teri Hansford; Timothy Kinnaird; Wolfgang Neubauer; Klaus Löcker; Tom Sparrow; Immo Trinks; Mario Wallner; Eugene Ch'ng

doi:10.11141/ia.69.19

9.1 Methodology

Sampling and DNA extractions

Prior to sampling, all sediment cores collected were stored at 4°C at the University of Warwick. Cores were split and sampled by Dr Teri Hansford and Dr Martin Bates in the University of Warwick's ancient DNA facility using standard protocols. Following splitting, approximately 20g of sediment was taken 1cm away from the side of the tubing to avoid contamination.

DNA extractions were conducted in batches that included seven samples, and one negative control. For extraction 2g (±0.05g) of sediment was combined with 5mL of CTAB (2% w/v CTAB, 1% w/v PVP, 0.1 M Tris pH 8.0, 20 mM EDTA, 1.4 M NaCl), and incubated at 37°C for 7 days in a shaking incubator. Following incubation, the samples underwent centrifugation at 20,000 x g for 10 minutes, and the supernatant combined with 4mL chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (24:1). This mixture was shaken for 5 minutes, centrifuged at 20,000 x g for 5 minutes, and the top layer of supernatant combined with 20mL of AW1 buffer (Qiagen, cat#19081), before being incubated at room temperature for one hour. Following incubation, samples were applied to silica-based columns and centrifuged at 700 x g for 10 minutes. This process was repeated until the entire sample had passed through the columns. Columns were then washed with 500 mL of AW2 buffer (Qiagen cat#19082) and centrifuged at 6000 x g for 1 minute. The flow through was discarded, and the process repeated with 300 mL of acetone. After centrifugation the columns were left to air dry at room temperature for 5 minutes before 75 mL of EB buffer (Qiagen cat#19086, 10 mM Tris-Cl, pH 9.5) was applied and incubated at 37°C for 10 minutes. The final DNA extract was then collected by centrifugation and quantified using a high sensitivity Qubit assay (Invitrogen, cat#Q32854).

Library preparation, quantification and sequencing

Double indexed libraries were produced based on a protocol from Meyer and Kircher (2010), with modifications from Kircher et al. (2012). The initial fragmentation step was omitted, given the inherent short length of ancient DNA (<400bp). The resulting libraries were purified of adaptor and primer dimers using SPRI beads following the protocol from Rohland and Reich (2012), using 1.25X sample volume of beads. Libraries were quantified using a high sensitivity Qubit assay (Invitrogen, cat#Q32854), and their fragment size profiles determined using a 2100 Bioanalyzer with a high-sensitivity DNA chip (Agilent Technologies, cat#5067-4626), allowing for molarity calculation and subsequent pooling of libraries ready for sequencing. Prior to sequencing, libraries were normalised to 4nM and pooled. Single end DNA sequencing was carried out using an Illumina NextSeq 500/550 High Output Kit v2.5 (75 cycles) (Illumina, cat# 20024906).

Initial bioinformatic analysis

Raw BCL files were demultiplexed using Illumina's bcl2fastq software (version v2.20.0.422), using the --no-lane-splitting and –ignore-missing-bcl options. FASTQ files were subjected to adaptor removal using AdapterRemoval 2.2.2 , specifying a minimum length and minimum quality of 30, and the resulting FASTQ files converted to FASTA using the following shell command: in.fastq | awk 'NR%4 !=0 | awk 'NR%3 !=0' | sed 's/@/>/g' > out.fasta.

FASTA files were subjected to an initial blast, using blastn (version 2.6.0), to assign broad taxonomic groups. Initial blast outputs and base FASTAs were fed into MEGAN5, with default settings to assign taxa, producing base RMAs. Primates were excluded from the data because non-human primates were absent from Europe during the Holocene. Samples were then subjected to Phylogenetic Intersection Analysis (PIA) with a minimum diversity score set to 0.04. Following taxonomic assignment, samples were filtered against negative controls.

Authentication

DNA sustains damage from environmental factors and microbial attack after the death of an organism. In aDNA, this damage is concentrated at the ends of DNA molecules, manifesting as C-T and complementary G-A mismatches, and can thus be used to authenticate DNA samples as ancient in origin. MetaDamage was employed to assess the levels of DNA damage of samples (Everett and Cribdon 2023)

Table 9.1: Results of diffusion and stratification analysis. The maximum likely diffusion rates between pairs of samples, using a minimum data size (total combined read count) of 50 are shown. Depth columns indicate the samples being compared, with the number of taxa hits per sample shown respectively. Depths are recorded in cm from topsoil. Maximum percentage diffusion and universal lambda values are shown for each pair of samples where a value was generated. Maximum diffusion values highlighted in red are those that are higher than 1%. The lowest probabilities that read counts between adjacent samples are the result of the same underlying statistical distribution and are shown in the column labelled 'stratification p-values'. Missing values indicate instances where there was insufficient data for analysis. Values that are not statistically significant (>0.05) are highlighted in red. 82% of p-values generated are statistically significant, suggesting a generally stratified signal within these cores.
core	depth 1	depth 2	counts 1	counts 2	taxa contributing	λ uni	taxa showing no diffusion	maximum percentage diffusion	stratification p-values
13D	163	86	29	144	0		0
13D	177	163	32	29	0		0
13D	190	177	18	32	0		0
13D	270	190	396	18	0		0
13D	337	270	268	396	1		0	4.790373616
13D	352	337	199	268	0		0		0.03368052
13D	370	352	273	199	0		0
13D	388	370	156	273	0		0
13D	482	388	154	156	0		0
1A	159	90	13710	20812	5	0.135263	2	0.003523323	1.74E-06
1A	196	159	311	13710	5	0.132201	1	0.455485241	2.22E-68
1A	263	196	140	311	3	0.0057165	0	11.50116203	0.4987157
1A	276	263	66	140	0		0
1A	370	276	99	66	0		0
1A	397	370	128	99	0		0
1A	456	397	99	128	0		0
1A	592	456	574	99	3	0.0136437	0	1.243089872	0.1874593
2A	151	82	67	9295	3	0.0569513	2	0.465914463	6.95E-26
2A	176	151	580	67	1	0.1464578	1	0	2.93E-13
2A	241	176	3191	580	2	0.0531919	1	1.337743691	8.57E-173
2A	254	241	23496	3191	7	0.4582538	2	0.34187022	2.27E-43
2A	272	254	83	23496	7	0.2338771	4	0.360408153	5.80E-31
2A	288	272	67	83	0		0
2A	363	288	38	67	0		0
2A	379	363	69	38	0		0
2A	395	379	78	69	0		0
2A	468	395	140	78	0		0		1.88E-35
2A	477	468	24629	140	7	0.5247061	5	0.202837524	4.20E-43
2A	586	477	171	24629	7	0.0360586	6	0.200985016	7.35E-39
2A	614	586	765	171	2	0.1537746	2	0	7.38E-40
2A	631	614	15767	765	6	0.3194017	2	0.511494442	0.17896051
2A	655	631	9870	15767	6	0.1840027	1	0.622253053	3.08E-131
2A	678	655	3153	9870	6	0.2904974	2	0.115605431
3A	162	98	37	70	0		0
3A	187	162	168	37	0		0
3A	375	187	83	168	0		0
3A	683	187	506	83	4	0.0082434	3	0.1618305	8.05E-07
5A	473	190	51	1134	2	0.0089482	2	0	2.86E-14
7A	364	265	191	247	2	0.0149927	0	5.122245183	1.09E-11
8A	161	42	1218	2551	10	0.0422072	3	0.147083554	3.86E-28
8A	267	161	293	1218	5	0.011634	0	7.972944373	4.05E-09
8A	337	267	428	293	2	0.0025309	0	9.187379264	0.32267803
8A	470	337	1029	428	5	0.020501	3	0.337507242	3.84E-21
16D	88	75	30	633	0		0	0
16D	125	88	10473	30	3	0.0311982	2	1.047889273	0.07002752
16D	150	125	6	10473	3	0.1054301	3	0	0.06826914
16D	182	150	16	6	0		0	0
16D	234	182	8	16	0		0	0
16D	250	234	2	8	0		0	0
16D	275	250	59	2	0		0	0
16D	320	275	31	59	0		0	0
16D	340	320	102	31	0		0	0
16D	379	340	62	102	0		0	0
16D	428	379	196	62	1	0.0015988	0	14.72868217	0.68949631
16D	451	428	53	196	0		0	0
16D	467	451	112	53	0		0	0
16D	490	467	183	112	0		0	0
16D	574	490	494	183	3	0.0489542	1	0.219906312	3.12E-15
16D	581	574	1362	494	3	1.0117366	3	0	1.54E-50

Table 9.2: The results of the taphonomic influx analysis. Individual sediment types and sediment combinations are shown. The percentage of DNA that is a result of local sources is shown by cl (contribution local), while cs (contribution sediment) is the percentage of DNA influxed from outside sources. The average difference in guild structure between adjacent samples with the same sediment type is shown by ∂1, while the difference between samples with differing sediment types is shown by ∂2. The closeness of the parameters to the observed values is shown in the column labelled fit. N1 and N2 refer to the numbers of samples that contributed to the calculation of ∂1 and ∂2 respectively
	cl	cs	∂1	∂2	fit	N1	N2
Individual sediment types Yellow brown clay silt (unstructured)	0.91	0.09	0.1552356	0.38966775	1.66E-05	15	5
Pale yellow brown clay silt (unstructured)	0.91	0.09	0.0416395	0.077269	9.17E-06	2	1
Brown clay silt (unstructured)	0.07	0.93	0.777232	0.04067026	5.59E-05	7	1
Red brown clay silt (unstructured)	0.24	0.76	0.17214183	0.0651155	5.59E-06	12	4
Pale brown clay silt (unstructured)	0.48	0.52	0.0224106	0.01534254	6.83E-06	2	1
	cl	cs	∂1	∂2	fit	N1	N2
Sediment combinations All sediments	0.43	0.57	0.24938693	0.22994938	7.54E-05	43	16
All silts (clay and non clay)	0.44	0.56	0.2537721	0.19158864	4.76E-06	41	14
Clay silts (unstructured)	0.63	0.37	0.25684063	0.19800378	6.44E-06	41	9
Non clay silts (unstructured)	0.7	0.3	0.018173	0.276668	9.34E-05	1	1

Figures

Figure 9-1 — Figure 9.1: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 16D organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences. Chemostratigraphic zones (CZ) are also shown, indicating which guilds and animal signals reside in which zone (see supplementary data file 7)

Figure 9-2 — Figure 9.2: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 1A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences

Figure 9-3 — Figure 9.3: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 2A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences

Figure 9-4 — Figure 9.4: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 3A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences

Figure 9-5 — Figure 9.5: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 5A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences

Figure 9-6 — Figure 9.6: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 7A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences

Figure 9-7 — Figure 9.7: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 8A organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences. Chemostratigraphic zones (CZ)are also shown, indicating which guilds and animal signals reside in which zone (see supplementary data file 7)

Figure 9-8 — Figure 9.8: Viridiplantae guild structures for pit 13D organised by damage. Guilds are organised in increasing depth and split into three damage groups. MetaDamage plots are shown, along with the location of Bos and Ovis sequences. Chemostratigraphic zones (CZ) are also shown, indicating which guilds and animal signals reside in which zone (see supplementary data file 7)

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The Perils of Pits: further research at Durrington Walls henge (2021–2025)

Vincent Gaffney, Eamonn Baldwin, Robin Allaby, Martin Bates, Richard Bates, Alex Finlay, Christopher Gaffney, Teri Hansford, Timothy Kinnaird, Wolfgang Neubauer, Klaus Löcker, Tom Sparrow, Immo Trinks, Mario Wallner and Eugene Ch'ng

SDF 9: SedaDNA Analysis

Robin Allaby and Teri Hansford (University of Warwick)

9.1 Methodology

Sampling and DNA extractions

Library preparation, quantification and sequencing

Figures