The Trouble with Ancient DNA: Telling Stories of the Past with Genomic Science

Journalists and scientists have spread dubious historical narratives based on over-extrapolations from DNA evidence, according to this penetrating study. Källén (The Archaeologist In-Between), a museology professor at Umeå University in Sweden, explains the limits of collecting DNA from ancient bones and other archaeological finds, noting that the DNA is often so deteriorated that scientists can only recover less than 10% of the genome. Case studies reveal the dubious inferences made from these partial extractions. For instance, she cites research that found certain Y-chromosome variations common in Yamnaya people, who lived in Central Asia during the Bronze Age, started showing up in Central Europe about 4,500 years ago, leading scientists to spin a “story of male sexual dominance and passive female compliance” in which a few “tall, strong-bodied Yamnaya men” raped and pillaged their way across the continent. However, she argues that equally plausible explanations include Central European women importing male sex slaves from the East, or else traveling there to mate. Elsewhere, Källén discusses how oblivious Western genetic researchers’ studies have accidentally provided fodder for the Chinese government’s claims that Uyghur people “lack their own culture, language, and history in Xinjiang.” Shedding light on how geneticists’ theories of the past often say more about themselves than their subjects, this provides plenty of food for thought. Photos. (Jan.)