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The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA
A renowned expert in the field of bio-archaeology presents a fascinating foray into the most significant archaeological breakthroughs that have forever altered our comprehension of the human past, detailing the discoveries and analyses that have helped revise the human genealiogical tree and answer questions that have befuddled researchers for years. 15,000 first printing.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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May 7, 2020
عندما اشتريته قبل أعوام خدعني العنوان بمساعدة صورة الغلاف التي تحتوي أقنعة ومقتنيات أثرية قديمة، حيث ظننت أن العنوان الثانوي(علم اﻵثار القديمة و الدُّنَا-جمع دنيا ^_^!-القديم) لكن ظهر أن ما عناه المترجم بالدنا هي (الدي إن إي) نعم..صدق أنه كتبها هو أو الناشر دنا..أي دي ان اي! ثم تبين لي أنه كتاب يسرد بدايات وتطور علم (البايو أركيولوجي) أو علم اﻵثار الحيوي، والذي يختص بدراسة البقايا العضوية في الجثث والمومياءات واﻷطعمة وغيرها من المخلفات البشرية والحيوانية والنباتية..بالنسبة لي وجدته مملا قرأت ثلثه ثم تصفحت الباقي..فقد كنت أتوق لكتاب عن اﻵثار التي نعرفها..يعني مباني كنوز أسلحة حضارات أسرار حكايات! ﻻ دنا رنا..والرنا هي آر ان اي على القياس! ومما زاد في حنقي إيراد المترجم ﻷسم إسرائيل بكل أريحية..وما ضره لو كتب مثلا( وجدت تلك البقايا من السنبليات في سهول فلسطين) ثم يذكر في الهامش *(وردت في نص المؤلف: سهول إسرائيل) وﻻ أظن أن هذا يعتبر خيانة علمية ﻷن إيراد المؤلف والمترجم بعده لتلك المعلومة بذلك الشكل هو خيانة تاريخية عظمى
November 13, 2019
كتاب في أدبيات العلوم
يوظّف السرد لكتابة تاريخ أبحاث الجينات البشرية
أسلوبه قصصي جذّاب
عناوينه مجازيه جميلة
نسقه كأدب الرحلة ولكن في التاريخ العلمي للإنسان
الترجمة مشروع حضاري مدروس قام بها عالم جليل
وأديب بارع
وإنسان له رؤية في اختياراته
من الإهداء والشكر
إلى سلاسة السرد الجميل
مع الدقة الأكاديمية المتخصصة في فرع معرفي
لم ترسخ مصطلحاته في الثقافة العربية المعاصرة بعد
وهذا يجعل ترجمة هذه الأعمال تحديا معرفيا للمترجم
يوظّف السرد لكتابة تاريخ أبحاث الجينات البشرية
أسلوبه قصصي جذّاب
عناوينه مجازيه جميلة
نسقه كأدب الرحلة ولكن في التاريخ العلمي للإنسان
الترجمة مشروع حضاري مدروس قام بها عالم جليل
وأديب بارع
وإنسان له رؤية في اختياراته
من الإهداء والشكر
إلى سلاسة السرد الجميل
مع الدقة الأكاديمية المتخصصة في فرع معرفي
لم ترسخ مصطلحاته في الثقافة العربية المعاصرة بعد
وهذا يجعل ترجمة هذه الأعمال تحديا معرفيا للمترجم
March 4, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in June 2007.
In the last two or three decades, modern scientific advances have led to a revolution in archaeology, much of which will be to an extent familiar to watchers of TV shows such as Time Team, which make extensive use of techniques from geophysics to investigate remains which are still buried. But the biggest change is probably due to the use of biochemistry to find out more about the minutiae of past lives and shed new light on long standing questions. This too has been the subject of television programmes; I have seen at least two which aimed to find out what proportion of the British have Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Danish or Norman ancestry. Pop science like this aside, what has the impact of modern biology been on the study of the past?
Martin Jones is in an excellent position to answer this question, as first George Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at Cambridge, and a pioneer of this field. Most of the book is devoted to the message that the traditional big pictures of archaeology developed in the early twentieth century (ideas about migrations, the domestication of animals, the spread of cultures and the Neolithic revolution) are massively over-simplified; this seems to be the major lesson learnt from the new techniques. These major insights are clearly explained, though the complexities of domestication events (basically answers to the question of when and where animals and plants were domesticated) are somewhat confusing due to a desire to include a large number of different scenarios for the different species.
However, I found the minute details which were previously unknowable that have been discovered with biological evidence to be much more fascinating. There was one story about a collection of bodies of medieval nobles exhumed from a German church, which it was possible to identify. There was one count who had no sons, until late in life his wife surprised him. However, DNA analysis showed that he wasn't related to his supposed son and heir. This is something that has obviously been thought about before - I remember reading one analysis that suggested that 10% of official father/son relationships were likely to be wrong, if results from twentieth century surveys on adultery were extended back into the past - but of course it makes something of a mockery of the idea of a royal or noble line of descent. There is always the possibility that the supposed father knew of the parenthood of the child, and accepted the baby as his for political reasons. Determining the real attitude of the count is something that even these new techniques cannot do.
More touching is the story of two communities, one by the sea and the other inland. Analysis of the bodies buried at the inland community showed that one man had, just before his death, been eating a seafood diet which would have been impossible if he had been living there. He must have been a recent arrival, who was buried with as much care as was reserved for the long term inhabitants despite his alien origin.
DNA is obviously the best known, and probably the most important biological molecule discussed in The Molecule Hunt. But Jones does not let his subtitle prevent him from looking at other indicators in biological remains - the second example quoted above does not depend on DNA. Generally, the science is explained clearly, and the story is well told. There is one moment which reads a little awkwardly, though I can see why Jones says what he says: he comments that in the sixties, pottery finds were carefully washed to remove the dirty residue; today, you see projects where the pottery is destroyed in order to make the residue accessible. It is a measure of just how far things have changed, but he says it in a way which is so artificial seeming that it robs it of impact. This short anecdote is atypical of the writing in the rest of this excellent book.
In the last two or three decades, modern scientific advances have led to a revolution in archaeology, much of which will be to an extent familiar to watchers of TV shows such as Time Team, which make extensive use of techniques from geophysics to investigate remains which are still buried. But the biggest change is probably due to the use of biochemistry to find out more about the minutiae of past lives and shed new light on long standing questions. This too has been the subject of television programmes; I have seen at least two which aimed to find out what proportion of the British have Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Danish or Norman ancestry. Pop science like this aside, what has the impact of modern biology been on the study of the past?
Martin Jones is in an excellent position to answer this question, as first George Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at Cambridge, and a pioneer of this field. Most of the book is devoted to the message that the traditional big pictures of archaeology developed in the early twentieth century (ideas about migrations, the domestication of animals, the spread of cultures and the Neolithic revolution) are massively over-simplified; this seems to be the major lesson learnt from the new techniques. These major insights are clearly explained, though the complexities of domestication events (basically answers to the question of when and where animals and plants were domesticated) are somewhat confusing due to a desire to include a large number of different scenarios for the different species.
However, I found the minute details which were previously unknowable that have been discovered with biological evidence to be much more fascinating. There was one story about a collection of bodies of medieval nobles exhumed from a German church, which it was possible to identify. There was one count who had no sons, until late in life his wife surprised him. However, DNA analysis showed that he wasn't related to his supposed son and heir. This is something that has obviously been thought about before - I remember reading one analysis that suggested that 10% of official father/son relationships were likely to be wrong, if results from twentieth century surveys on adultery were extended back into the past - but of course it makes something of a mockery of the idea of a royal or noble line of descent. There is always the possibility that the supposed father knew of the parenthood of the child, and accepted the baby as his for political reasons. Determining the real attitude of the count is something that even these new techniques cannot do.
More touching is the story of two communities, one by the sea and the other inland. Analysis of the bodies buried at the inland community showed that one man had, just before his death, been eating a seafood diet which would have been impossible if he had been living there. He must have been a recent arrival, who was buried with as much care as was reserved for the long term inhabitants despite his alien origin.
DNA is obviously the best known, and probably the most important biological molecule discussed in The Molecule Hunt. But Jones does not let his subtitle prevent him from looking at other indicators in biological remains - the second example quoted above does not depend on DNA. Generally, the science is explained clearly, and the story is well told. There is one moment which reads a little awkwardly, though I can see why Jones says what he says: he comments that in the sixties, pottery finds were carefully washed to remove the dirty residue; today, you see projects where the pottery is destroyed in order to make the residue accessible. It is a measure of just how far things have changed, but he says it in a way which is so artificial seeming that it robs it of impact. This short anecdote is atypical of the writing in the rest of this excellent book.
March 20, 2013
Provides some very interesting insight into bioarchaeology as practiced today as well as how it got started and developed over the past several decades. I was able to follow the subject matter fairly easily as it was presented in an engaging and interesting way. I have recently become interested in everything about DNA and found this book quite informative.
My only complaint is the text of the e book edition from Barnes & Noble was obviously not proofread as there are a lot of errors, especially with date numbers as well as most of the larger numbers with four or more digits. Also, if the hard copy book contains graphics they are missing from the e book.
My only complaint is the text of the e book edition from Barnes & Noble was obviously not proofread as there are a lot of errors, especially with date numbers as well as most of the larger numbers with four or more digits. Also, if the hard copy book contains graphics they are missing from the e book.
May 30, 2019
Not the lightest of reads, but the subject matter is so fascinating, well worth plowing through ... gives a varied account of the use of molecules not just DNA in order to better understand our past ... the longevity of bacterial spores particular astounding ... of course, as science is an ever moving conveyor of knowledge, there are a couple of wrong guesses and assumption, such as the data surrounding neanderthals (itself a fascinating topic, as we now understand that the neanderthal genome has survived, with most europeans and asians having a small fraction of the whole in the DNA ... studies such as those done by Rajiv McCoy et al) but this does not detract from the whole.
May 12, 2021
كتاب موسوعي شامل يجب قرأته قبل البدء بقراءة اي كتاب تاريخ
July 21, 2021
The book seemed somewhat disorganized.
May 2, 2016
In the last three or so decades, modern scientific advances have led to a revolution in archaeology, arguable with the most significant change due to the use of biochemistry to shed more light on long standing questions.
In this enjoyable and informative book, Martin Jones show how the use of molecular analysis techniques has revealed information previously assumed to be indeterminate. Martin Jones takes a look as such diverse subjects as the origins of plant cultivation, the origins of animal husbandry, population movements, the plague, family ancestry, species ancestry, neanderthals, mummies, detailed mundane details of past lives and a host of other interesting subjects. This book also provides an interesting insight into how bioarchaeology got started and how it developed over the past decades to its current form as practiced today.
The book could be improved by including diagrams, photographs or any type of illustration. I'm fairly sure, that since the book's publication in 2001, additional discoveries and techniques have been made. An updated version or sequel to this book would be welcome.
In this enjoyable and informative book, Martin Jones show how the use of molecular analysis techniques has revealed information previously assumed to be indeterminate. Martin Jones takes a look as such diverse subjects as the origins of plant cultivation, the origins of animal husbandry, population movements, the plague, family ancestry, species ancestry, neanderthals, mummies, detailed mundane details of past lives and a host of other interesting subjects. This book also provides an interesting insight into how bioarchaeology got started and how it developed over the past decades to its current form as practiced today.
The book could be improved by including diagrams, photographs or any type of illustration. I'm fairly sure, that since the book's publication in 2001, additional discoveries and techniques have been made. An updated version or sequel to this book would be welcome.
December 11, 2014
I got this book from the library in the hopes of learning more about ancient human DNA, but was pleasantly surprised by discussions of all sorts of ancient molecules (anything leftover from grain or blood or plants). It's sad that this book is already over ten years old now, and I can't even imagine how much biomolecular archaeology has progressed in that time, but I still feel like I gained a lot of valuable knowledge here. It is an excellent, engaging read for anyone who wants to know more about history and archaeology (and the history of archaeology); there's more to the past than the shards of pottery you see behind museum glass. Definitely recommended.
September 15, 2013
Interesting. A bit wordy yet short on detail. A good overview of molecular archaeobiology.
August 27, 2014
very good :)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews