Analyses that would have required large samples in the 1990s can now be conducted with microgram quantities.

This means that future researchers will be able to extract more information from less material than current researchers can — which is an argument for some restraint in the present, preserving material for future analysis with better tools.

The specific research frontiers that are most likely to yield new findings in the near future include:

Expanded microbiome analysis: The study of the microbial communities associated with Ötzi — in his gut, on his skin, in his oral cavity, in the sediment of his clothing — has barely begun relative to what the current technology makes possible.

The microbiome carries information about diet, health, environment, and population contact that complements the human genome.