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Nature 422, 460 (3 April 2003) | doi:10.1038/422460a

Genetics to unlock secrets of our African past

Michael Cherry

Archaeologists and geneticists could soon be working together to investigate the genetic diversity of our human ancestors in Africa, a meeting on the "Human Genome and Africa" was told last month.Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum told the meeting, organized by South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), that the identification of well-preserved fossil hominids and analysis of their DNA could answer key questions about the origin of our species.