The third need, more methodological than empirical, is the continued development of techniques for recovering ancient DNA from environments that have so far yielded little usable material. Much of South and Southeast Asia has warm, humid conditions that are unfavorable for long-term DNA preservation. New approaches—including sedaDNA analysis and improvements in extraction chemistry—may make it possible to recover ancient genetic information from sites in these regions that have previously yielded no workable DNA.
Denisova 11 opened a door. The view through that door is of a vast landscape of archaic human prehistory that is still mostly in the dark. The methods that revealed her are the same methods that will, piece by piece, illuminate more of that landscape.
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