The dental anthropological analysis — the detailed morphological and metric description of the tooth itself — was published separately, providing the specific physical characterization of the specimen that complemented the genetic and dating results.

Getting DNA From a Baby Tooth

The extraction of ancient DNA from a single small tooth that had been sitting in a collection for nearly seventy years, and that before that had been buried in cave sediment for approximately 9,000 years, is a technical challenge that pushes the limits of what modern genetics can accomplish.

Understanding why requires some appreciation of what happens to DNA over geological time.

DNA is a remarkably stable molecule by biological standards — it can persist in tissues for years or decades without significant degradation under normal biological conditions.