Ancient genetics to ancient genomics: celebrity and credibility in data-driven practice

Abstract

resurrect extinct species. 2 Since the 1980s, speculation about resurrection has followed the field closely, influencing the development of this practice over a prolonged period of time. Drawing on historical and archival material, interviews with scientists, and philosophical literature, this paper presents the search for DNA from fossils, throughout its disciplinary development from the 1980s to today, as a data-driven and celebrity-driven practice. This paper proceeds in three parts. First, I deliver a condensed history of ancient DNA research from the 1980s to today with attention to the role that technology as well as consistent press and public interest played in its growth from a curious idea into a credible practice within evolutionary biology. Second, I introduce interviewees' memories of their history and analyze their perspectives on the historical and philosophical development of ancient DNA activity as an extended episode of boundary-work. In attempts to make sense of their history as a science in the spotlight, interviewees try to draw a line between their past and present in order to portray the practice as a more question-driven, and therefore more mature, area of research today. Finally, I discuss the role of celebrity and credibility in the data-driven practice of ancient DNA research. Methods and Definitions In analyzing the methodologies of ancient DNA researchers over a thirty-year-period, it is necessary to address my own methods that were used in the writing of this history. Specifically, I approached this project as a historian of science with a focus on oral history methods which included qualitative interviews with fifty-five scientists, as well as doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, involved in ancient DNA research. The interview method was semistructured in style, on average two-hours in length, and resulted in partial-transcriptions for analysis. The interviewees represent researchers from disparate disciplines within evolutionary biology and can be characterized within the following categories: paleontology, archeology, anthropology, botany, epidemiology, evolutionary genetics, population genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, and computational biology. These interviewees work within the following countries: United States,

Ancient human DNA: A history of hype (then and now)

“…The media was vital to the field's growth in terms of its initial formation and overall identity. The press consistently publicized the nascent science, but scientists also purposefully fashioned their own opportunities for attention which helped influence publication timing, grant funding, research agendas, and professional recruitment (Jones, 2019(Jones, , 2022. In the early years, hype was performative in that it generated interest and guided activity that led to the experimentation of novel ideas in order to establish evidence for their value (Borup et al, 2006;Brown, 2003).…”

Stepping Forwards by Looking Back: Underdetermination, Epistemic Scarcity and Legacy Data

“…But they also have socio-economic resources, such as placement in universities and museums, and various social structures provisioning funding and interest. Elizabeth Jones, for instance, has explored how appeal to celebrity provided a crucial set of complex cultural resources for the development of ancient genomics (Jones 2019).…”

Paleobiology and philosophy

“…[the] race for the first or the oldest genome (as well as the race to sequence the most genomes) and the accompanying media attention surrounding it, shared striking similarities to the 1990s' search for the first or the oldest DNA. (Jones 2019).…”