Ancient DNA and the Future of the Past

Ancient DNA and the Future of the Past

From Tides of History by Audible / Patrick Wyman

February 26, 2026 · 35 min · Season 5 · Episode 169

About this episode

This episode explores the impact of ancient DNA recovery on archaeology and ancient history, as well as the future of this research field.

The ability to recover ancient DNA from archaeological remains is one of the greatest scientific innovations of our time, but how has it impacted archaeology and ancient history? And where is the study of ancient DNA going? We explore in this week's episode. Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People in this episode

Host: Patrick Wyman

Topics covered

  • ancient DNA
  • archaeology
  • ancient history
  • scientific innovations
  • future of research

Keywords

  • ancient DNA
  • archaeology
  • history
  • scientific innovations
  • research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Audible

Books & works: Past Lives, The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World

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