A face is legible in a way that a list of measurements is not.

And accessibility matters for a field that depends, in part, on public engagement to sustain funding, museum attendance, and interest in the deep human past.

Ancient Proteins and the Future of Shanidar Research

Beyond ancient DNA, a newer method is opening additional windows into deep prehistory: ancient proteomics, the analysis of proteins preserved in fossil bone and teeth.

Proteins are, in some ways, more durable than DNA.

While ancient DNA degrades over time and is difficult to recover from specimens older than a few hundred thousand years in temperate climates, certain proteins — particularly those in dental enamel — can survive for over a million years.