Solid biological samples from millennia past might not be as common as stone tools or other archaeological evidence, but there are plenty of other candidates for sequencing, Willerslev noted. The limiting factor will likely not be the number of specimens or even their potential contamination, Rasmussen said: "What will limit us is fragment size." In order to come up with enough genomic material to sequence and check as many as 20 times over, researchers need a large enough biological sample to study.
Such detailed insight can also provide new information about genetic mutations—from skin tone to genetic disease risk—across the millennia. Establishing that sequencing the genome of ancient individuals is possible "opens up the possibility to go back in time and see" when genetic diseases became prevalent in different populations, Willerslev said. And for more modern populations that met recent ends, such as many Native American groups and native Tasmanians, genetic sequencing can answer some previously unknowable information about those groups.
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Add Commentvery interesting))))
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisvery interesting))))
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it's wrong to assume that these people were wiped out in Greenland. When pressured by newcomers (possibly the Dorset people who for a long while lived in Labrador-Newfoundland?) maybe they just picked up and moved. To Siberia?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGenetic testing tells some clues to history, too. It seems that most european males are cognate to Y chromosome groups such as R1B1 (yes, R2D2 and C3Po are also Y chromosome groups) while you find a greater variability among the european women mtDNA that is inherited exclusively from woman's line. The not so far history of conquest of Canary Islands by castilian armies gives some hint on how things used to be: native guanche males, a supposedly semitic people that some researchers link to baske, berebere -an arabic equivalent of barbarians, from the roman barbaroi, those who cannot speak- and old egyptians, all them sharing genes, culture and language, native guanche males were killed or taken as slaves, while women preserved they lives by becoming conqueror's spouses. It is supposed that the current cost of automated analysis of a whole human genome can be in the range of 100 (one hundred) USD, and great reductions are expected, so, not only your ancestry will be exposed to lab scrutiny, but also traits connected to diseases that can influence the cost an insurance company may expect from giving you insurance coverage. Internet is not the only threat to privacy
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"...a metabolism and body mass index commonly found in those who live in cold climates..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey found him in Greenland. I think I could have figured that out with no DNA analysis at all. (LOL)
"Barbaroi" is Classical Greek, not Latin (barbarian is a derivative), and is condescendingly/insultingly imitative: "Bar bar" is how a foreigner's speech sounds to you if you don't understand him.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs modern researchers expect unraveling the mystery of ancient genes, I just wonder which method is favored to date human remains.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCarbon 14 has been challenged as a reliable method for most ancient remains. Carbon 14 is most accurate for periods below 10,000 years, researchers say. Inuk admittedly died some 4,000 years old. I conclude Carbon 14 may still render valuable services.
According to Bible chronology, the world froze as a result of a global flood some 4,000 years ago. The continent earth was deeply affected and gave way to various pieces of land. This parallel record from the ancient past satisfyingly explains how Inuk found himself in western Greenland. He surely died before continents started drifting away.
Concerning Fabric LOTY's comment:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is no indication of a world-freeze in the Biblical global flood, nor could it have happened some 4,000 years ago by Biblical chronology, since your own Biblical chronology places Abram much closer to 4,000 years ago, and the flood many many generations before Abram.
That said, the evidence of scientific studies puts the lie to a Biblical flood, period. That there may have been a flood of major proportions in some PART of the world can be argued, but your Creationist/Intelligent Design argument has no testable hypotheses, no factual data not otherwise explainable by geological or biological sciences, no reasonable coincidence with the convergent lines of evidence that argue for an earth that is over 4 billion years old.
Please, learn from the information in this website, but if you need to espouse your theories, do so at a more conducive site, such as www.intelligentdesign.org.
Hi, I am helen
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishow are you,hope you are fine and in perfect condition of health. I went through your profile and I read it and took interest in it,please if you don't mind I will like you to write me on this ID(helenyak11@yahoo.com)hope to hear from you soon,and I will be waiting for your mail because I have something VERY important to tell you. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe this would ever happen. I never expected to fall so deeply in love so fast. It all started after reading profile first. Lots of love helen