Sedimentary ancient DNA analysis from the Iron Age courtyard and cooking pit site of Rodskjaer in Troms, Northern Norway

Sedimentary ancient DNA from 63 Rodskjaer Iron Age sediment samples detected plant and animal sedaDNA in 52 samples, revealing key taxa like Avena, Quercus, Equus, and Salmo salar.

• Why it matters: Courtyard sites in Norway are linked to cooking pit fields, but their main function is unclear, and existing evidence can miss important taxa.
• What they did: The team built a sedaDNA metabarcoding sampling framework across cooking pits, fire pits, hearths, natural shell-sand, and topsoil, then compared samples using worm sedaDNA to flag bioturbation and root penetration.
• The result: Plant diversity was high (41–100 taxa), and sedaDNA recovered archaeologically significant taxa not found by other methods while identifying contexts where disturbance could limit spatial or temporal interpretations.

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