When Funding Fails the Past: What I Learned from a Harvard Gazette Article on Ancient DNA

By Angelo Boujaoude | AnthroExplorer.com

Earlier this week, I came across a thought-provoking article in The Harvard Gazette that I haven’t stopped thinking about. It focused on Dr. Christina Warinner, a Harvard professor and leading expert in ancient DNA, whose groundbreaking projects were suddenly cut by the National Science Foundation this year.

I decided to write about what I learned because it highlights something few people realize. Just as scientists are making huge advances in uncovering the human past, many of their projects are being defunded in ways that could stall progress for years.

DNA, the Maya, and a River of Lost Stories

Dr. Warinner’s research spans continents, millennia, and even fermented horse milk. But one of the most devastating funding losses hit a project she was leading on the ancient Maya in the Belize River Valley. For three years, her team had been gathering DNA from over 400 individuals spanning more than a thousand years of human life in the region.

Their aim was to understand how intermarriage and kinship networks may have connected Maya city-states along the river. Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA sequencing made it possible for the first time to test such questions in humid environments, where genetic material typically degrades quickly.

They were on the verge of major discoveries. But then came the letter from the NSF. No more funding.

What struck me most is that this wasn’t just academic curiosity. Their findings could reshape how we understand ancient political systems and relationships, something that resonates with anthropology’s power to uncover the social complexity of ancient peoples.

Horse Milk and Human History

Another project cut short was even more unexpected: a study on the origins of horse milking.

I hadn’t realized that early domesticated horses were milked, or that koumiss (a fermented horse milk drink still consumed in Central Asia) may have powered empires like the Mongols and the Xiongnu. Warinner’s team was working to pinpoint when and where this practice began by analyzing dental plaque from ancient skeletons.

To me, this feels like the kind of historical detective work that blends anthropology, biology, chemistry, and storytelling all in one. Yet without funding, even the most creative methods and passionate researchers are left stranded.

Why This Matters

Reading Dr. Warinner’s story made me realize how fragile progress in archaeology and anthropology can be. As she said herself, “People have a deep curiosity about who we are and where we come from.”

These projects aren’t just about the past. They help us understand the foundations of identity, culture, politics, and even food. Losing them means losing stories we may never recover.

QUIZ TIME!

Test Your Knowledge: Ancient DNA and Human History

1. What ancient civilization was Dr. Warinner studying through DNA analysis in Belize?

A) Olmec

B) Inca

C) Maya

D) Aztec

E) Zapotec

2. Why was the Belize River Valley project so groundbreaking?

A) It found gold buried in Maya tombs

B) It was the first to use underwater archaeology in the region

C) It uncovered Maya hieroglyphs in modern villages

D) It used new genetic methods to study kinship in humid environments

E) It proved the Maya invented fermented drinks before the Chinese

3. What drink did Warinner’s horse milking research focus on?

A) Mead

B) Kefir

C) Kumis (koumiss)

D) Yak butter tea

E) Kvass

4. What unusual source of ancient biomolecules did Warinner’s team analyze?

A) Hair braids

B) Tattoo ink

C) Dental tartar

D) Bone marrow

E) Cactus residue

Answer Key:

1: C

2: D

3: C

4: C