Into the Impossible With Brian Keating 90% of Ancient Humans Vanished. We Reconstructed Their History (ft. David Reich)
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Oct 31, 2025 
David Reich, a Harvard geneticist renowned for his groundbreaking work in ancient DNA, delves into the complexities of human history. He reveals that a staggering 90% of ancient populations disappeared in mere centuries, leaving behind ghost civilizations like those who built Stonehenge. The conversation explores how genetic data uncovers our interconnected past, the fascinating ways ancient DNA is extracted, and the impact of Neanderthals and Denisovans on modern humans. Reich emphasizes that cultural myths often mirror real historical events, weaving a rich tapestry of our shared ancestry.
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Stonehenge Was Built By Now-Displaced People
- Stonehenge builders were largely displaced by a new population within ~200 years after construction.
- Modern Britons are mostly descended from later migrants, not the people who built Stonehenge.
Recent Bottleneck Explains Human Genetic Similarity
- By ~70,000 years ago most non-African humans derive from a small expanding group that displaced others.
- This bottleneck explains why humans are genetically much less diverse than chimpanzees.
Laboratory Steps To Recover Ancient DNA
- Use clean rooms and targeted chemical protocols to extract DNA from bone and tooth powder.
- Enrich for human fragments and sequence massively to recover genome-scale data from ancient remains.
