title: Evolutionary anthropology and genes: investigating the genetics of human evolution from excavated skeletal remains.
abstract: The development of molecular tools for the extraction, analysis and interpretation of DNA from the remains of ancient organisms (paleogenetics) has revolutionised a range of disciplines as diverse as the fields of human evolution, bioarchaeology, epidemiology, microbiology, taxonomy and population genetics. The paper draws attention to some of the challenges associated with the extraction and interpretation of ancient DNA from archaeological material, and then reviews the influence of paleogenetics on the field of human evolution. It discusses the main contributions of molecular studies to reconstructing the evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships between extinct hominins (human ancestors) and anatomically modern humans. It also explores the evidence for evolutionary changes in the genetic structure of anatomically modern humans in recent millennia. This breadth of research has led to discoveries that would never have been possible using traditional approaches to human evolution.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, The Henry Wellcome Building, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.
authors.forename: Evilena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anastasiou
authors.forename: Piers D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000883:Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005580:Fossils; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA
keywords: Ancient DNA; Asp; Aspartic Acid; HVR; Human evolution; Human remains; Hypervariable Region; NGS; Next Generation Sequencing; PCR; Paleogenetics; Polymerase Chain Reaction; RFLP; Restriction Length Fragment Polymorphism; aDNA; ancient DNA; base pair; bp