GENOMICS ENABLE COMPREHNSIVE RECONSTRUCTION OF GENETIC HISTORY

Assumptions about origins, until recently, were based on the burial place of people. The limitation is that it does not take the migrations into account.  

New genomic tools are enabling scientists to track genetic origins and migrations of ancient people with higher precision, and thus are overturning long believed ideas on the origins of populations.

The aGPS (ancient Geographic Population Structure) tool enables finding the geographical origins of ancient DNA.

For the reconstruction of modern history, scientists have combined hundreds of snap shots from the past from 12,000BC to the modern-era.

The study localized 50% of more than 300 Near-Easterners and ancient Eurasians during the Ice Age to Late Iron Age period to 200km from their burial site, approximately 32% of them to between 200-1000 km, and the rest to between 1000 and 3,175km.

Dr Eran Elhaik, one of the researchers, says "This is by far the most comprehensive reconstruction of our genetic history. Our work reveals the colonization of Europe, step by step, and answers many questions concerning the origins and migrations of Europeans.”

Thus, genetic data can have several queries which archaeology alone cannot. DNA data availability is the only restriction now.

Content: www.sciencedaily.com