Tracing our long-lost lineages using ancient DNA

Over tens of thousands of years, waves of Homo sapiens set out across Europe and Asia, only for their societies and cultures to mysteriously vanish. ⁠
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We are now realizing that stories like this are surprisingly common in prehistory. While it can be tempting to think of human evolution as a tale of progress and success, ultimately leading to a global population, the reality is that many lineages of our species died out and left no descendants. At last, ancient DNA is revealing why. ⁠