In recent years, a field that has traditionally relied on fossil discoveries has acquired helpful new tools: genomics and ancient DNA techniques. See “Neanderthal DNA in Modern Human Genomes Is Not Silent”These findings, and many since, have highlighted the power of genetics in resolving questions about human ancestry that fossils alone cannot. In the five years since that publication, researchers have published nearly 100 other full and partial ancient human sequences from Africa. Analyses of ancient DNA have also helped researchers understand how ancient migrations affected the genomes of people alive today. Only time will tell whether researchers’ current arsenal of technologies is enough to untangle the complete story of human evolution.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 01, 2020 04:07 UTC