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Mary Prendergast, Ph.D, Speaks Out on the Ethics of Archaeogenetics

Mary Prendergast, Ph.D., chair of humanities at SLU-Madrid, together with anthropologist Elizabeth Sawchuk, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University, recently published the article “Ancient DNA is a powerful tool for studying the past – when archaeologists and geneticists work together” in "The Conversation," an open-access digital platform for the publication of news and opinions from the academic and research community.

Dr. Prendergast directs excavations at the site of Luxmanda, Tanzania, where one of the first ancient African human genomes was sequenced.

Mary Prendergast, Ph.D., directs excavations at the site of Luxmanda, Tanzania, where one of the first ancient African human genomes was sequenced.

The past few years have seen explosive growth in archaeogenetics - the study of ancient DNA from human skeletons. In their opinion piece, Prendergast and Sawchuk take on the ethical problems raised by this research and map out a better way forward for the study of our past.