DNA

‘Viking’ Was a Job Description, Not a Matter of Heredity, Massive Ancient DNA Study Shows

A large DNA study of samples from Viking remains casts doubt on the idea that participation was a hereditary or ethnic phenomenon. Being a Viking was a job. 

Ancestry Promises Holocaust Records Will Be Free

The U.S.C. Shoah Foundation has partnered with the genealogy giant, and an initial rollout faced a glitch. But some survivor families don’t want their histories public.

Large DNA Study Traces Violent History of American Slavery

Historian Alondra Nelson praised the application of genetics to narrating the history of the slave trade, but cautioned that historians should be an integral part of any project making claims about human ancestry.

Ancient strain of plague found in Sweden – and it could rewrite history

A group of researchers from Sweden, Denmark and France analyzed skeletons from a tomb outside Falköping and found DNA traces of yersinia petis, the bacteria that cause plague.

The DNA Industry and the Disappearing Indian

by Aviva Chomsky

DNA, Race, and Native Rights

Neanderthals and Humans Were No One Night Stand

Our DNA has revealed many more encounters.

Crossing From Asia, the First Americans Rushed Into the Unknown

Three new genetic analyses lend detail, and mystery, to the migration of prehistoric humans throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Former Belgian King Ordered to Give DNA for Paternity Test

Delphine Boël grew up certain that she should be a princess. Now a court ruling and a DNA test could make it true.

DNA evidence links Muhammad Ali to heroic slave, family says

Turns out he's related to the slave used as a model in a famous Lincoln/slave statue. 

DNA Analysis Confirms Authenticity of Romanovs’ Remains

Will Russia’s fallen royal family finally receive a full burial from the Orthodox Church?

How European colonization completely wiped out dogs in America

DNA studies have unearthed the troubling history of dogs in North America – and their fate of extinction at the hands of European colonists.

Unraveling the Genetic History of a First Nations People

By looking at the DNA of Tsimshian people before and after European contact, researchers paint a more nuanced history.

Raw Fish and Tapeworms: Ancient Latrines Reveal the Diets of Our Ancestors

Scientists have performed DNA analysis on ancient stool samples from Northern Europe and the Middle East to get a glimpse of what our ancestors were eating.

Lost in Battle, Found by Amateur Sleuths: An ‘Unknown’ Marine

Digitized records and DNA tests are allowing civilian volunteers to pitch in and help put correct names on unidentified remains in American military cemeteries.

Historian discovers he’s related to the people he’s written a book about

by John Sedgwick

And it changes his perspective on the value of genealogy.

Geneticist at Harvard Medical School has retrieved DNA from more than 900 ancient people.

His findings trace the prehistoric migrations of our species.

Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human (and Neanderthal) History

The genomes of the long dead are turning up all sorts of unexpected and controversial findings.

Was Pirate Black Sam Bellamy Found? DNA Test Could Tell

Researchers are working to use DNA to identify whether a human bone recovered from a Cape Cod shipwreck belongs to the infamous pirate Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy.

DNA Tests on an Ancient Skeleton Reveal the First Briton Was Black, Not White

"It really shows up that these imaginary racial categories we have... are not applicable to the past at all," said one project worker.

They considered themselves white, but DNA tests told a more complex story

Nicole Persley of Boca Raton, Fla. says a genetic test validated what she had dug up about her family's heritage.