How a bit of cave dirt just changed archaeologyBy Arden Dier Published April 28, 2017
The study of humans has long relied on bones to reveal human DNA. The problem is that those bones are hard to come by. As the Atlantic points out, scientists have only a finger bone and two teeth belonging to the Denisovans, cousins of Neanderthals.
It's no wonder then that a Harvard geneticist refers to a new technique of recovering human DNA without bones, described in a study published in Science Thursday, as a "real revolution in technology," per the New York Times.
German researchers took dirt samples at seven cave sites in Europe and Asia where Neanderthals or Denisovans once lived. Four returned Neanderthal DNA, and one of the four sites contained Denisovan DNA, per a release, which notes many of the sediment samples were taken from archaeological layers or sites that hadn't previously yielded bones.
More at link:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/04/28/how-bit-cave-dirt-just-changed-archaeology.html
