An international research team led by Lund University in Sweden has developed a method that can accurately date up to ten-thousand-year-old human remains by analyzing DNA with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
It is critical to accurately date ancient humans when mapping how people migrated throughout history. Radiocarbon dating has been the accepted method of dating since the 1950s. The method, which is based on the ratio of two different carbon isotopes, has revolutionized archaeology. However, the technology is not always completely accurate, making it difficult to map ancient people, how they moved, and how they are related.
Radiocarbon dating, which is based on the ratio of two carbon isotopes, has been the standard method for dating human remains. However, the technique is not completely reliable, making it difficult to map the relationships and movements of ancient people. Researchers have now developed a new method that will be useful to archaeologists and paleogenomicists.
Radiocarbon dating is highly unstable and is influenced by the quality of the material under consideration. Our method is based on DNA, which makes it extremely reliable. We can now begin to seriously trace the origins of ancient peoples and map their migration routes.
Eran Elhaik
The method combines artificial intelligence and DNA analysis to accurately date human remains up to 10,000 years old. The new method, known as Temporal Population Structure (TPS), could accurately date 5,000 human remains from the Late Mesolithic period, between 10,000 and 8,000 BC.
A research team has developed a dating method that could be of great interest to archaeologists and paleognomicists in a new study published in Cell Reports Methods.
“Unreliable dating is a major issue, resulting in ambiguous and contradictory results.” According to Eran Elhaik, a molecular cell biology researcher at Lund University, “our method uses artificial intelligence to date genomes via their DNA with great accuracy.”
The method, known as Temporal Population Structure (TPS), can be used to date genomes that are up to 10,000 years old. The study included an examination of approximately 5,000 human remains dating from the Late Mesolithic period (10,000-8,000 BC) to the present. All of the samples examined could be dated with unprecedented precision.
Molecular biologist Eran Elhaik says, “Unreliable dating is a major problem, resulting in vague and contradictory results. Our method uses artificial intelligence to date genomes via their DNA with great accuracy. We show that information about the period in which people lived is encoded in the genetic material. By figuring out how to interpret it and position it in time, we managed to date it with the help of AI. Radiocarbon dating can be very unstable and is affected by the quality of the material being examined. Our method is based on DNA, which makes it very solid. Now we can seriously begin to trace the origins of ancient people and map their migration routes.”
“We show that information about the period in which people lived is encoded in the genetic material. By figuring out how to interpret it and position it in time, we managed to date it with the help of AI,” says Eran Elhaik.
TPS is not expected to replace radiocarbon dating, according to the researchers, but rather as a complementary tool in the paleogeographic toolbox. When a radiocarbon dating result is uncertain, the method can be used. The famous human skull from Zlat k in today’s Czech Republic, for example, could be anywhere between 15,000 and 34,000 years old.
“Radiocarbon dating is highly unstable and is influenced by the quality of the material under consideration. Our method is based on DNA, which makes it extremely reliable. We can now begin to seriously trace the origins of ancient peoples and map their migration routes” Eran Elhaik concludes.
