Scientists had figured a fossil found in Spain more than a century ago was from a Neandertal. But a new analysis suggests it could be from a lost lineage of our species, Homo sapiens.
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Articles on aDNA
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The first ancient DNA sequences from peoples of the medieval Swahili civilization push aside colonialist stories and reveal genetic connections from the past.
DNA analysis reveals a large migration of people into Scandinavia during Viking times.
A German town needed to relocate a medieval graveyard to build a parking garage. A positive side effect: Scientists got to sequence the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews who lived more than 600 years ago.
Ancient DNA helps reveal the tangled branches of the human family tree. Not only did our ancestors live alongside other human species, they mated with them, too.
Thousands of ancient genomes have been sequenced to date. A Nobel Prize highlights tremendous opportunities for aDNA, as well as challenges related to rapid growth, equity and misinformation.
A new study doubles the age of ancient DNA in sub-Saharan Africa, revealing how people moved, mingled and had children together over the last 50,000 years.
By studying the DNA of people who lived in East Asia thousands of years ago, scientists are starting to untangle how the region was populated.
Archaeologists have long argued over when and how people first domesticated horses. A decade ago, new techniques appeared to have provided answers – but further discoveries change the story again.
20 years ago, who could predict how much more researchers would know today about the human past – let alone what they could learn from a thimble of dirt, a scrape of dental plaque, or satellites in space.
People caught and died from plague long before it caused major epidemics like the Black Death in the middle ages. Could what scientists call cultural resistance be what kept the disease under control?
Pastoralism is a central part of many Africans’ identity. But how and when did this way of life get started on the continent? Ancient DNA can reveal how herding populations spread.
Ancient DNA allows scientists to learn directly from the remains of people from the past. As this new field takes off, researchers are figuring out how to ethically work with ancient samples and each other.
Modern techniques such as CT scanning and ancient DNA analysis have allowed scientists to discover a great deal about a mummy found in a shallow grave in Botswana.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, Rice University
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Assistant Curator of Human Evolution., University of Alberta
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Professor of Genetics and of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
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Professor; Head of the School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Director of the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich
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Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach
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MPhil Candidate in Bioscience Enterprise, University of Cambridge
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Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology, University of Colorado Boulder
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Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Richmond
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Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
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Associate Professor of Population and Statistical Genetics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
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Professor at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
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Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
