This is not a question typically asked in these pages — historians have their own meetings and journals, after all. But as scholars continue to discuss the past, a new breed of scientists is trying to muscle in on the work of the present. These researchers want to use modern genetic techniques to answer historical questions, and as they do so, they are firmly treading on the toes of their colleagues in the humanities. These geneticists promise answers: using analysis of DNA to discover what ‘really’ happened during the Bronze Age and the Viking sagas and replace ‘biased’ histories with cold, hard data.
“Historians will be left behind if they fail to incorporate genetics into their research.”
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This is not a question typically asked in these pages — historians have their own meetings and journals, after all. But as scholars continue to discuss the past, a new breed of scientists is trying to muscle in on the work of the present. These researchers want to use modern genetic techniques to answer historical questions, and as they do so, they are firmly treading on the toes of their colleagues in the humanities. These geneticists promise answers: using analysis of DNA to discover what ‘really’ happened during the Bronze Age and the Viking sagas and replace ‘biased’ histories with cold, hard data.
“Historians will be left behind if they fail to incorporate genetics into their research.”
http://www.nature.com/news/source-material-1.19962?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews
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