WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE GOT HERE

The past few years have seen a revolution in our ability to map whole genome DNA from ancient humans With the ancient DNA revolution combined with rapid genome mapping of present human populations has come remarkable insights into our past This important new data has clarified and added to our knowledge from archaeology and anthropology helped resolve long existing controversies challenged long held views and thrown up some remarkable surprises The emerging picture is one of many waves of ancient human migrations so that all populations existing today are mixes of ancient ones as well as in many cases carrying a genetic component from Neanderthals and in some populations Denisovans David Reich whose team has been at the forefront of these discoveries explains what the genetics is telling us about ourselves and our complex and often surprising ancestry Gone are old ideas of any kind of racial purity or even deep and ancient divides between peoples Instead we are finding a rich variety of mixtures Reich describes the cutting edge findings from the past few years and also considers the sensitivities involved in tracing ancestry with science sometimes jostling with politics and tradition He brings an important wider message that we should celebr