April 29, 2017

Sample-taking at the archeological site of El Sidrón, Spain (Photo courtesy El Sidrón research team)

An article published in the journal “Science” describes a new method to collect DNA from sediments in archaeological sites, even when there are no bone remains. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, successfully experimented with this method in sites of various nations, recovering DNA from various mammals including hominids, specifically Neanderthals and the mysterious Denisovans.