Bara Huber
LightNews LightNews
barahuber.bsky.social
Bara Huber
@barahuber.bsky.social
440 followers 480 following 25 posts
Postdoctoral researcher at Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences and @MPI_GEA. Archaeological chemistry • Archaeo-Metabolomics • Past Smells and Perfumes• Ancient Egypt and Arabia
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Bara Huber
dai-weltweit.bsky.social
👃 Wie roch die Vergangenheit?

Ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt nimmt uns mit einer neuen Publikation (hrsg. von A. Hausleiter & @barahuber.bsky.social) zu #Duftstoffe​n u.a. aus der Oase #Tayma im Nordwesten #SaudiArabien​s mit in die Welt antiker #Düfte.

🏺 www.dainst.org/newsroom/sce...
Cover des Bandes "Scents of Arabia. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds", herausgegeben von Arnulf Hausleiter und Barbara Huber. Auf dem hellen Cover sind im Hintergrund angedeutete Dunstschleier in gesetzten Rot- und Brauntönen zu erkennen.
November 17, 2025 at 12:30 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
A journey into the sensory world of ancient Arabia: incense, ritual, trade, memory & scent 🌿🔥🏺🧪

www.dainst.org/en/newsroom/...
DAI - Scents of Arabia
www.dainst.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
Really nice coverage on our research on ancient scents by @sciam.bsky.social and @gayoung.bsky.social
🏺🧪👩‍🔬

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
History Smelled. Here’s How We’re Sniffing It Out
How can reconstructing long-lost smells of ancient artifacts help us connect with the past?
www.scientificamerican.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
fridowelker.bsky.social
I'm hiring!⭐ As part of the DFF Sapere Aude-funded project MiddleEarth, I am looking for 1 postdoctoral researcher and 1 research assistant.
October 27, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
nicoleboivin.bsky.social
Interested in the kinds of information archaeologists can gain from metabolic profiling? Check out this wonderful new book and our chapter on the ancient oasis of Tayma.

This work builds on our 2022 paper on reconstructing ancient scents in Nature Human Behaviour: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Book cover for Scents of Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
barahuber.bsky.social
🌿✨ New Book Out! ✨🌿
Our new volume #Scents_of_Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds is now published with
@archaeopress.bsky.social

Thank you to all contributors who made this book possible!
@dai-weltweit.bsky.social
🏺🧪👩‍🔬👃

#PastScents #Heritage #Archaeology
October 24, 2025 at 10:53 AM
barahuber.bsky.social
So looking forward to ISBA11!! See you in Turin 💚
isba11.bsky.social ISBA11 Turin @isba11.bsky.social · Aug 6
It's not too late to spend your August at the conference of the summer! Registration for ISBA11 is open until August 17th! (no puffer jacket needed)

#ISBA11 #biomoleculararchaeology #Archaeology #ISBAconference #archaeologicalconference

@isbarchaeology.bsky.social @archaeobiomics.bsky.social
August 25, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
carlipeters.bsky.social
Our latest paper is out now in Frontiers in Mammal Science: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mam...

We characterized ZooMS peptide markers for three extinct Australian megafauna species 🦴🧪
Frontiers | Collagen peptide markers for three extinct Australian megafauna species
Recent advancements in biomolecular archaeology, such as stable isotope and ancient DNA research, have expanded our understanding of megafauna extinction pro...
www.frontiersin.org
June 3, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
natureportfolio.nature.com
Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used for medicinal and hygienic purposes, according to a paper in Communications Biology. go.nature.com/3HhFV6D 🏺 🧪
This is figure 2, which shows alkaloids in archeological residues linked to Peganum harmala and its psychoactive and therapeutic properties.
May 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
commsbio.nature.com
"Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic contexts for medicinal and hygienic purposes.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia - Communications Biology
Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic con...
www.nature.com
May 27, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
jholm.bsky.social
Smoke and Memory: How Iron Age Arabia Burned Plants to Heal and Cleanse
www.anthropology.net/p/smoke-and-...
Smoke and Memory: How Iron Age Arabia Burned Plants to Heal and Cleanse
At a desert oasis in Qurayyah, the scent of tradition lingers 2,700 years later
www.anthropology.net
May 26, 2025 at 4:59 AM
barahuber.bsky.social
Nice media coverage about our new study on psychoactive and medicinal plants in the past 🌿🧪
@diepressecom.bsky.social

www.diepresse.com/19717652/sch...
Schon Eisenzeit-Menschen verwendeten psychoaktive Steppenraute
Ein österreichisch-deutsches Forschungsteam analysierte Rückstände auf archäologischen Funden – und wies die früheste Verwendung der Pflanze vor 2700 Jahren auf der Arabischen Halbinsel nach.
www.diepresse.com
May 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant ‘harmal’ identified in Iron Age Arabia | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant ‘harmal’ identified in Iron Age Arabia
A new study uses metabolic profiling to uncover ancient knowledge systems behind therapeutic and psychoactive plant use in ancient Arabia.
www.eurekalert.org
May 23, 2025 at 12:34 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
🧪 New Research Alert! 🧪

Our latest study, published in @commsbio.nature.com uncovers the earliest known evidence of the medicinal and psychoactive plant Peganum harmala (harmal) in ancient Arabia. 🏺
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#Metabolomics 🧪 #BiomolecularArchaeology #AncientMedicine
Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia - Communications Biology
Metabolic profiling of Iron Age residues from the oasis of Qurayyah, Northwest Arabia, reveals the earliest material evidence for the fumigation of the drug plant Peganum harmala, used in domestic con...
www.nature.com
May 23, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
mdpetraglia.bsky.social
Paper alert, @nature.com. Our study reveals 8 million years of #GreenArabia. We document environmental variability - ranging over the entire course of human evolution. Arabia is a key bridge at the cross-roads of continents. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 9, 2025 at 3:01 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
🌿✨ I’m so happy to share that I’ve been awarded the #GNAA_Science_Award 2025 for Excellence in Archaeological Science and Archaeometry.

A heartfelt thank you to all my mentors, collaborators, and colleagues along the way ☺️

www.gea.mpg.de/140806/barba...
Barbara Huber Awarded GNAA Science Award 2025 for Excellence in Archaeological Science and Archaeometry
www.gea.mpg.de
April 3, 2025 at 10:30 AM
barahuber.bsky.social
🌿 Excited to share our new Research Topic:

Biomolecular Insights into Food, Medicine, and Scent in Environmental Archaeology

👇🏼 Check out the full Research Topic here:
www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

@ancientproteins.bsky.social
March 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
welkergroup.bsky.social
📣 Paper alert! 📣 In this review, available as early view in @paleoanthjourn.bsky.social, we discuss "Paleoproteomic Contributions, and Current Limitations, to Understanding Middle and Late Pleistocene Human Evolution". Thanks to all coauthors! paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.ph...
Screenshot of the paper title. It's published in the special issue "Special Issue: What’s in a Name? Late Middle and Early Late Pleistocene Hominin Systematics" and the title of the paper is "Paleoproteomic Contributions, and Current Limitations, to Understanding Middle and Late Pleistocene Human Evolution".
February 5, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
simonhammann.bsky.social
Very interesting preprint from @matthewcollins.bsky.social @jessiehendy.bsky.social and others on experimental foodcrusts and recovered proteins to identify the ingredients.

It's complicated.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
An unclean slate, discrepancies between food input and recovered protein signal from experimental foodcrusts
Organic residues are a rich source of biomolecular information on ancient diets. In particular, foodcrusts, charred residues on ceramics, are commonly analysed for their lipid content and to a lesser ...
www.biorxiv.org
February 5, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
stschiff.bsky.social
Excellent book review on "The trouble with ancient DNA" by my colleague Kathrin Nägele at the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #adna #books #science
The ancestral genome’s tale
Narratives that invoke ancient DNA must be crafted with care, argues an archaeologist
www.science.org
January 22, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Bara Huber
matthewcollins.bsky.social
🧬 Game-changer for ancient bone analysis: AutoZooMS automates species ID using robotics & mass spec! Study at Grotte Mandrin (42-44Ka) ID'd 1200+ samples, revealing new taxa (bears, mammoths) & human remains. Future of archaeology = robots doing the heavy lifting 🦴🤖 #archaeology #ZooMS
A technical laboratory workflow diagram divided into "Protein Extraction and Digest" and "MALDI spotting and analysis" sections. Left section: Bones are placed in 48-well MTP plates, treated with 0.95mL 0.6M HCL, transferred to 96-well filter plates (10kDa/30kDa MWCO), followed by 3x centrifugation and ABC buffer addition. Right section: Samples transfer to 96-well MT plates, undergo trypsin digestion (0.1-0.2µg per sample) at 37°C, diluted with matrix solution, spotted onto 384 MALDI plate. Process concludes with a mass spectrometry spectrum showing protein peaks and bioinformatics analysis. Each step marked with gear icons requires manual intervention for centrifuge/incubator transfers. The workflow enables processing >1000 samples within 24 hours using Hamilton Microlab STAR system with 8-channel and 96-channel Multi-Probe-Head capabilities.
December 23, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
matthewcollins.bsky.social
Simple, but simply scary?

Anonymising job applications achieved gender parity in 🇨🇦 Biochemisty Dept from 17% in the previous 10 years (5 hires) to 80% in the subsequent 4 years (5 hires).

Christian, S. L. et al. Preprint at biorXiv doi.org/10.1101/2024... (2024).

Report in Nature
How a biochemistry department used redacted job applications to achieve gender parity
Anonymizing job applications before shortlisting helped to boost the number of women appointed.
www.nature.com
December 14, 2024 at 9:35 PM
barahuber.bsky.social
Now that we have this amazing new Smell Studies list (fantastic initiative, Will @willtullett.bsky.social!), I’m resharing some of my earlier work here for researchers interested in the fascinating world of past scents and smells.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How to use modern science to reconstruct ancient scents
Nature Human Behaviour - Olfaction has profoundly shaped human experience and behaviour from the deep past through to the present day. Advanced biomolecular and ‘omics’ sciences enable...
www.nature.com
December 3, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
simonhammann.bsky.social
Our paper on fluorogenic triacylglycerols as sensor molecules for lipid oxidation is now published in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry!!
Very pleased to see this finally out and grateful to all co-authors for making this possible!

Chemsky
New fluorogenic triacylglycerols as sensors for dynamic measurement of lipid oxidation - Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
Lipids are major constituents of food but are also highly relevant substructures of drugs and are increasingly applied for the development of lipid-based drug delivery systems. Lipids are prone to oxi...
link.springer.com
November 21, 2024 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Bara Huber
matthewcollins.bsky.social
NatureRevMCB by Ryan Paterson, Palesa Madupe & Enrico Cappellini

3.8M year old horse 🐎 tooth 🦷 yielded 60+ proteins covering ~10k amino acids.

Single-molecule sequencing tech a game-changer?

💀 Decolonization & democratization of human evolution studies
🦕 ?
#paleoproteomics #evolution
Paleoproteomics sheds light on million-year-old fossils - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Ancient proteins can provide phylogenetic information at a timescale that supersedes ancient DNA. Paleoproteomics could thus provide invaluable evolutionary insights, including into human evolution.
www.nature.com
November 22, 2024 at 2:19 PM