Episode 50 of the Archaeological Fantasies is live, and Ken and I were able to finally sit down with someone who knows quite a bit about the use of DNA and genetics in archaeology. Jennifer Raff, who’s covered all this wonderfully over at her own blog Violent Metaphors, was just the podcast guest I’ve been looking for to help us sus out all the ins and outs of genetic evidence in archaeology.
We’ve mentioned Jennifer and her co-author Deborah A. Bolnick’s work before when Ken and I talked about the Solutrean-Clovis hypothesis. Her and Dr. Bolnick’s paper really digs into the supposed genetics that are supposed to support this rather flawed hypothesis.
I’m not going to rehash all of this in this post, Jennifer has done the lion’s share on her blog and paper, and then again on the podcast. I suggest you go give it all a read and a listen. It really clarifies questions I had about ancient genetics and prehistoric DNA.
Archaeological Fantasies 
I just listened to episode 50 and I’m troubled. It seems as though you see racism in every “kiss me I’m Irish” button or “made in America with Polish parts” t-shirt. I take pride in the accomplishments of people of my ethnic ancestry be they Irish or Luxembourgish, that takes nothing away from anybody else and I would expect other people to take pride in their ancestors accomplishments and that shouldn’t make them racists either. I needed to get this off my chest because its been building for a while and I do enjoy the podcast and I’d hate to quit listening over such a little issue. Thanks Jim Birkel P. S. I’m glad the Vikings made it to North America if for no other reason than I was able to tell my Danish friend that “only the Scandinavians could loose something the size of North America”. It don’t make me racist.
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