Harvard Gazette: Funding cuts upend projects piecing together saga of human history
The Department of Anthropology at Harvard University is pleased to share a new story in The Harvard Gazette which explores recent cuts to funding of ancient DNA science. Christina Warinner notes how these losses come just as innovations are driving major advances in field, and provides a deeper look into the work that has been affected.
Warinner, Landon T. Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology, is well-known in the field of ancient DNA, with her pioneering methods cracking several mysteries concerning early human diets and health. Hers were among the more than 1,600 NSF grants for active projects that were terminated in the spring.
“I recognize it can be hard to compare this work with medical research, which has such obvious applications for saving lives,” Warinner said. “But people also have a deep curiosity about who we are and where we come from. Our work is important because it uses our most powerful technologies to reveal how we, as humans, lived thousands of years ago so that we may better understand our world today.”
The cuts come at a critical time for practitioners of ancient DNA science, a discipline in rapid ascent due to recent advances in lab techniques and computing power. The multidisciplinary field got its start in the mid-1980s in the United States, but support here for the work has lagged behind Northern Europe during the 21st century.