What Were Stone Age Bacteria Like? We Now Have the First Clues

Ancient teeth preserved bacterial DNA fragments for millennia, and they could become a source of new antibiotics.

By Matt Hrodey
May 4, 2023 6:20 PMMay 4, 2023 6:23 PM
Stone Age dental calculus
Researchers collected ancient DNA fragments from dental tartar. (Credit: Werner Siemens Foundation/Felix Wey)

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Bacteria have lived on our planet earth for about 3 billion years, most of the 4.5 billion years that the planet has been around. And while the industrious microbes are central to medicine, disease and most areas of the natural world, we understand little about the form they took in the ancient world.

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