[dsc.discovery.com]

They've successfully tried out a new technique (sort of a "shoot 'em all, let god sort 'em out" method) for autosomal DNA analysis with ancient bones (as opposed to testing just for the much more prevalent mtDNA).

It involves taking Cave Bear bones that were LIKELY to be contaminated with other (bacterial, etc) DNA.... as a "if it works here, it will work anywhere" test of the method. They analyzed EVERYTHING, and them used computers to compare the recovered sequence fragments against the "nearest relative" that had already been completely sequenced (in this case, dogs) to distinguish between what is from the bones in question (by virtue of matching the closest sequenced relative well enough)..... and what (by virtue of extemely NOT matching) was NOT from the bones in question.

They found that roughly 6% of the DNA from the Cave Bear bones was actually Cave Bear DNA.

They're thinking of doing this on Neanderthal bones......

Kenuchelover.