ARCHAEOLOGY AND GENETICS - ANALYZING DNA FROM SKELETAL REMAINS

We review some of our recent work on the analysis of DNA extracted fro m skeletal remains up to four thousand years old, which is made possib le by the exquisite sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction. To d o this, we consider in some detail our approach to a particular archae ological problem, the question of the scale and nature of the settleme nts which took place in post-Roman Britain. This involves the analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region surviving in bone material fr om early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, and from likely modern descendents of the British and Germanic populations. We discuss the potential value and limitations of such an approach, and in so doing give some indicat ion of the present state of the art.