The success of the MA-1 analysis was, against this background, a vindication not just of the analytical methods but of the decision to pursue the investigation at all.

Ancient DNA from a 24,000-year-old individual was, at the time of the analysis, at the very edge of what had been demonstrated possible.

The Mal’ta bones, preserved in the cold of south-central Siberia and then in the controlled conditions of museum storage, had retained enough of the original genetic material to produce a genome.

That success was not guaranteed.

Many other potential ancient specimens fail to yield usable DNA, either because the preservation conditions were not favorable or because the laboratory techniques cannot extract sufficient material from the available samples.