ABSTRACT
DNA does not always survive in ancient skeletons, but when it does, it may potentially allow probabilistic inferences to be made concerning four main areas of interest to osteoarchaeologists. It may allow statements to be made about kinship between individuals within a cemetery. It can be used as a way of assessing sex of individuals where this is not possible using skeletal morphology, for example with child skeletons. But the most frequent use to which it has been put is for biodistance studies – to investigate relationships between populations and to study population movements in the past. Those are all studies of human DNA. The fourth area of work has concentrated on pathogen DNA, the analysis of DNA from disease-causing microorganisms that were present in the body at death. This can help diagnose disease and also help us to understand pathogen phylogeny, shedding light on the way infectious diseases spread among human populations in the past.
