Before describing what the genetic analysis found, it is worth pausing to explain what ancient DNA is and how researchers actually extract and read it — because the technology involved is counterintuitive, and the limitations of the method are as important to understand as its capabilities.

DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid — is the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for the development and function of every living organism.

In modern humans, it is organized into twenty-three pairs of chromosomes housed in the cell nucleus, plus a separate set of mitochondrial DNA in the energy-producing mitochondria of each cell.

The nuclear genome contains approximately three billion base pairs of genetic information.

The mitochondrial genome is much smaller — only about 16,500 base pairs — but is present in many copies per cell, which makes it considerably easier to recover from ancient remains.