![]() ![]() ![]() We try to address that in different ways. One question that we are struggling with and thinking about is, What is the relationship of the Neanderthals to us? We are now in the process of analyzing the Neanderthal genome, putting together all the little DNA pieces we have extracted from the sequence of this fossil and starting to compare it to humans and chimps. SVANTE PÄÄBO, the founder of the field of ancient DNA, is Director, Department of Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig. In 2007 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Then, after some initial success, I realized the real limitations on what I wanted to do. But my dream was to address questions like this. ![]() ![]() For example, how do historico-political events that we read about impact the population? When Alexander the Great comes to Egypt, what is the influence on the population? Is it just a political change? The Arab Conquest: does that mean that a large part of the population is replaced? Or is it mainly a cultural change? There's no way we can answer this question from historical records. I dreamt of addressing questions in Egyptology. I thought that I would be able to easily study the ancient genomes. When I started out in '84/'85, intent on studying the genomes of ancient civilizations, I was, as is often the case in this kind of situation, driven by delusions of grandeur. ![]()
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