Speaker: Tyler Murchie
Archaeologists and palaeontologists reconstruct the past from the pieces that survive: bones, artifacts, soft tissues, sediments, and other traces of former lives. Yet time and taphonomy erase much of the original picture, leaving records that are fragmentary, uneven, and biased toward the organisms and materials most likely to persist. Ancient DNA provides access to a complementary class of evidence: invisible molecular traces preserved within remains, sediments, and other unconventional archives. When carefully recovered and assembled, these traces can help fill gaps in our understanding of the past.
This talk will explore how ancient and environmental DNA are expanding our view of Canada’s Quaternary history. Examples will include Arctic ground-squirrel coprolites preserved in Yukon permafrost, which retain complex ecological and evolutionary signals spanning hundreds of thousands of years, as well as ongoing research using terrestrial and marine sediments to reconstruct changes in organisms, communities, and ecosystems across the Pleistocene and Holocene—from the Pacific coast and northern territories to eastern Canada.
The molecular record is itself shaped by preservation and method. DNA extraction, inhibition, library preparation, target enrichment, taxonomic classification, and authentication all influence which pieces become visible. I will discuss efforts to improve these stages through new extraction strategies, custom hybridization-capture panels, multi-kingdom reference resources, and bioinformatic tools. The talk will conclude by considering how cross-training, shared methodological development, and the Canadian Ancient DNA Network can strengthen our collective capacity to assemble a richer, more connected picture of Canada’s past.