title: Ancient human DNA.
abstract: The contribution of palaeogenetic data to the study of various aspects of hominin biology and evolution has been significant, and has the potential to increase substantially with the widespread implementation of next generation sequencing techniques. Here we discuss the present state-of-the-art of ancient human DNA analysis and the characteristics of hominin aDNA that make sequence validation particularly complex. A brief overview of the development of anthropological palaeogenetic analysis is given to illustrate the technical challenges motivating recent technological advancements.
authors.affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Institute of Anthropology, Germany.
authors.forename: Karola
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirsanow
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D004247:DNA