The fact that ancient DNA exists at all is a minor miracle. And now that we have figured out how to extract it efficiently and sequence it accurately (more or less), we are suddenly able to answer many long-standing historical riddles. Dr C explains how ancient DNA is revolutionizing our understanding of human history.

Location: Mt Lemmon, Arizona

Subjects: Looking back in time with ancient DNA, the petrous (inner ear) bone is packed with DNA, ancient DNA is degraded., Neanderthal genome told us they were extremely inbred, up to one million mutations per cell per day, ancient DNA tells us the story of European history, but modern Europeans came from Central Asia and did not come to Europe until much later, ancient DNA in Africa and the replacement of the original population during the Bantu expansion, human history is bloody.

Intro Music by Xihcsr