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Brief Communications
Nature 410, 772 (12 April 2001) | doi:10.1038/35071181
reply: Not just old but old and cold?
Igor V. Ovchinnikov1,2,3, Anders Götherström4, Galina P. Romanova5, Vitaliy M. Kharitonov6, Kerstin Lidén4 & William Goodwin1
Abstract
Smith et al. have shown an interesting correlation between the thermal age of Pleistocene–Holocene fossils and ancient DNA retrieval and advocate using this criterion to assess the merit of subjecting ancient bones to destructive analysis, particularly any scientifically valuable bones of Neanderthals and anatomically pre-modern humans. The post-mortem DNA quality is, of course, dependent on the surrounding temperature, but — as the authors point out — many other important factors influence fossil DNA preservation, such as air and soil humidity, soil pH, phosphorus content of the soil, average temperature in different earth layers, and microbial-mediated decay, which also have to be taken into account.
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