The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA

This is an excellent discussion of what new research on DNA and RNA have contributed to the writing of history and to understanding how we got where we are. The author gives the reader a good, concise introduction to the subject and its history, before introducing some of the remarkable finds that the technique has contributed. Most readers interested in science should be able to understand the information. I found the book of remarkable interest because I had taken paleontology while working on a BS in geology before genetic research really got off the ground. It has been amazing watching what has transpired in the field with this new source of information. It has cleared away some of the confusion in field paleontology and verified some of the speculation that arose over fossil specimen. I also have degrees in history, and DNA/RNA research has corrected many past assumptions regarding migration of people throughout the ancient world. The peopling of the Pacific islands, for instance, has been a much debated subject, one approached through blood types, language trees, material culture parallels, and other documentation in the past. What has been learned from biology has definitely improved our understanding of that region of the world and of human achievement in past eras. An exciting book.

"Molecule Hunt" is a history of the technology of using DNA and other once-living substances to trace the distant past of man and animals. When I went to school archeology seemed to be the (boring!) study of old pieces of pottery; it's a lot more complex and interesting now. The movie "Jurassic Park" popularized the potential of DNA investigation. "Molecule Hunt" is crammed with the facts and speculations that have emerged from the research of the bio-archaeologists over the last thirty or so years -- including a look at dinosaur DNA. One interesting section examines the relationship of the Neanderthal to homo sapiens. Other sections go into the domestication of wheat, rice, corn, cattle, camels, and dogs. When did it happen? Where? The author also examines human relationships, including the Indians of America, the Africans, and the Polynesians. DNA analysis gives us a possible scenario of where they came from and when and to whom they were related. I have two complaints about the book. First, it contains not a single illustration or chart or map to help the reader understand complex material. Secondly, partially because of the lack of illustrations, some of the material in the book goes over the head of the average reader -- or at least this average reader. It's hard sledding at times to decipher the delphic declarations of the author. Overall though, the pain is worth the gain. Smallchief

To those complaining about life's ups and downs, read this for consolation. Even the Stock Market doesn't achieve the rises and falls exhibited by the field of archaeology. Except the focus here is on ideas, not finance. Jones describes the tumultuous history of understanding human evolution during the past century. From a few bones and broken pottery, archaeology tried to unravel the mysteries of our past. The implementation of molecular analysis techniques, he shows, has revealed information undreamt of only a generation ago. In this excellent summary, Jones explains how new research has established our roots, our progress around the planet, and mundane details of our past life in various locations.The imaging of the DNA molecule opened new portals for explaining life's progress. Once it was understood DNA can change, sometimes at a calculable rate, tracking the modifications became a new analysis tool. "Markers" on the molecule can be studied and placed in a chronological context. Jones manages to explain both the markers and the analysis techniques in clear, jargon-free prose. It's not an easy task, but he achieves it admirably.Through much of this book, the "Jurassic Park" image remains a running theme. DNA from insects embedded in amber, however, proved an illusory quest. Although the insect bodies appeared intact, close inspection revealed the DNA was shattered long ago. Still further [and rather later] investigation resulted in some unexpected surprises - the insects didn't contain dinosaur DNA, but that of residents in their own guts. More than gut bacterial DNA survived- the entire organism was still living after millions of years.The journey from "Jurassic Park" to realistic analysis has not been a smooth, linear path. Jones explains how new finds led to various theories of human evolution and migration with resultant cultural developments. The rise of agriculture was long held to have originated in one place, then spread across the planet. Molecular analysis techniques demonstrated the fallacy of that idea, Jones explains, revealing the evidence demonstrating the emergence of farming in various places. China's history of rice production preceded by centuries the grains produced in the Tigris-Euphrates area. Many other "established" concepts have been refuted by various methods of molecular analysis. Each new "absolute" is described by Jones as if irrefutably established. Then he discards the dogma with a flourish of new data.The most compelling chapter in the book takes us away from DNA, with its many limitations, to "the other molecules". In "beyond DNA", Jones describes these molecules and the many surprises proteins, lipids and even blood now offer. The unexpected persistence of these compounds in proper circumstances reveals an immense amount of data. Animal blood has been taken from stone weapons providing information on prey species. Certain proteins found in blood prove astonishingly persistent, Jones explains. Having mineral a

The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA written by Martin Jones is a book about modern molecular archaeology and what it entails.This book is a fascinating and absorbing story of scientific inquiry. Keeping in mind that what is preserved for the scientist is in fosilized form and what DNA samples that they do get need specialized equipment and new field methods for getting the samples, essentially changing the way we think about archaeology.This book is an easy read, largely helped by the author's prose making for a highly educational read about remarkable new techniques now available for investigation of our, human, past. DNA can be found in all life on the planet, extracting a sample from the past is extremely difficult. From seeds, wood, amber and even pot shards yeild a unique picture of the past as to what our diets consisted of and how we lived.The author's enthusiasm for this subject is in evidence as the reader goes from chapter to chapter finding how molecular archaeology is in a scientific revolution making our concepts of the past change before our eyes. Stomach contents preserved in humans yields information about ancient diets.This is an educational book as it shows how scientists, devising a molecular clock, from certain area of the DNA molecule, were able to determine that all humans descend from one common female ancestor... "The Mitochondrial Eve." This is an all around good read as your eyes read, your brain will say I didn't know that they could do that... amazing as to what can be found out in molecular archaeology.

The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology And The Search For Ancient DNA by Martin Jones (the first to hold the George Pitt-Rivers Professorship of Archaeological Science, Cambridge University, and Chairman of the Ancient Biomolecules Initiative program) is a serious, authoritative, highly accessible introduction for the non-specialist general reader to the fascinating scientific revelations that ancient proteins and remnants of DNA trapped in fossils and amber can tell us about the prehistoric world from which they derived. From the discovery that all humans come from one female ancestor 150,000 years ago (dubbed "The Mitochondrial Eve"), to comparing Neanderthal DNA to that of modern homo sapiens, to revising when the first humans crossed the Aleutian land bridge, and much more, The Molecule Hunt is an amazing, informed and informative glimpse into how the disciplines and technologies of science can connect ancient mysteries with modern marvels.