Inside a Siberian cave that has been an archeological treasure trove, an elk's canine tooth - pierced to become a pendant - was unearthed by scientists with care to avoid contaminating this intriguing artifact made roughly 20,000 years ago. The pristine collection of the pendant from Denisova Cave paid dividends. Scientists on Wednesday said a new method for extracting ancient DNA identified the object's long-ago owner - a Stone Age woman closely related to a population of hunter-gatherers known to have lived in a part of Siberia east of the cave site in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in Russia. The method can isolate DNA that was present in skin cells, sweat or other bodily fluids and was absorbed by certain types of porous material including bones, teeth and tusks when handl...
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