RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Ancient DNA from a 2,700-year-old goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) confirms gazelle hunting in Iron Age Central Asia JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2021.12.08.471591 DO 10.1101/2021.12.08.471591 A1 Rodrigues Soares, André Elias A1 Boroffka, Nikolaus A1 Schröder, Oskar A1 Sverchkov, Leonid A1 Benecke, Norbert A1 Günther, Torsten YR 2021 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/10/2021.12.08.471591.abstract AB Central Asia has been an important region connecting the different parts of Eurasia throughout history and prehistory, with large states developing in this region during the Iron Age. Archaeogenomics is a powerful addition to the zooarchaeological toolkit for understanding the relation of these societies to animals. Here, we present the genetic identification of a goitered gazelle specimen (Gazella subgutturosa) at the site Gazimulla-Tepa, in modern-day Uzbekistan, confirming hunting of the species in the region during the Iron Age. The sample was directly radiocarbon dated to 2724-2439 calBP. A phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial genome places the individual into the modern variation of G. subgutturosa. Our data does represent both the first ancient DNA and the first nuclear DNA sequences of this species. The lack of genomic resources available for this gazelle and related species prevented us from performing a more in-depth analysis of the nuclear sequences generated. Therefore, we are making our sequence data available to the research community to facilitate other research of this nowadays threatened species which has been subject to human hunting for several millennia across its entire range on the Asian continent.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.