Ancient DNA and Molecular Archaeology

Dear Colleagues,

Ancient DNA (aDNA) is any DNA extracted from ancient specimens, important for diverse evolutionary research. During the last three decades, DNA analysis on degraded samples has revealed itself as an important research tool in anthropology, molecular evolution, and population genetics. The past decade has witnessed a revolution in ancient DNA research. Although the field’s focus was previously limited to mitochondrial DNA and a few nuclear markers, whole-genome sequences from the deep past can now be retrieved. This breakthrough is tightly connected to the massive sequence throughput of next-generation sequencing platforms and the ability to target short and degraded DNA molecules, with the possibility to go back in time 400,000 years for samples from temperate regions and 700,000 years for permafrozen remains. Today, ancient DNA research has facilitated a number of breakthroughs in our understanding of human evolutionary history and is likely soon becoming a standard tool in archaeology similar to radiocarbon dating, allowing genetics to engage in a fruitful symbiotic relationship with archaeology.

This Special Issue welcomes original research, brief research reports, and review papers about molecular archaeological studies on unearthed materials (including animals, plants, humans, sediments, and so on), using genome-wide sequencing or microarray technologies or various kinds of markers, such as mtDNA, Y chromosome, STRs, SNPs, and isotopic data.

Dr. Shaoqing Wen
Dr. Pengfei Sheng
Guest Editors

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