Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils—all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike—vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA.

化石清洗、刷洗和涂清漆——所有这些许多化石猎人和博物馆馆长都采用的标准保护措施——极大地降低了恢复古代 DNA 的机会。

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This line of thinking raised an exciting possibility: Perhaps language left a fossil record after all-not in buried bones, but in our DNA.

这种思路展现了一种激动人心的可能性：语言可能留下了化石纪录——不是埋在地下的骨头，而是在我们的DNA当中。

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The centerpiece of the DNA study is a Denisovan fossil finger bone discovered in 2008.

这项DNA研究的关键物证就是于2008年发现的丹尼索万人的指骨化石。

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The best fossil and DNA evidence today indicates it was a rare Neanderthal who lived past the ripe old age of 35.

WSJ: Neanderthals: Why Us and Not Them?

In the new study, scientists studied mitochondrial DNA extracted from well-dated fossil bear skeletons to work out how population size changed over time.

BBC: Early human 'squatters' drove cave bears to extinction