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Ancient DNA and Human Evolution

Ancient DNA data have provided unprecedented insights into the recent history of our species. In particular, methodological improvements and innovations over the last ten years have advanced our ability to recover small fragments, target specific sequences, identify damage patterns, and obtain genome scale data. As a result, we have evidence for admixture among modern and archaic humans as well as greater appreciation for the complexity of population histories for modern humans around the world. This symposium brings together researchers at the forefront of ancient DNA research and population genetics to discuss current developments and share insights about human migration and adaptation. (from carta.anthropogeny.org)

The Oldest Human DNA Sequences. Matthias Meyer (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) discusses the technical difficulties one faces when working with poorly preserved ancient material and the insights this work provides into human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene (e.g., the 400,000 year-old hominin remains from a cave site in Northern Spain).

3. The Oldest Human DNA Sequences


Go to the Series Home or watch other lectures:

1. The Landscape of Archaic Ancestry in Modern Humans
2. Prehistoric Human Biology as Inferred from Dental Calculus
3. The Oldest Human DNA Sequences
4. Neandertal and Denisovan Genomes and What They Tell Us
5. The Origins of Modern Humans in Africa
6. A Map of Neandertal Genes in Present Day Humans
7. The Phenotypic Legacy of Neandertal Interbreeding on Modern Humans
8. Ancient European Population History
9. The Genetic History of the Americas