Ancient DNA: from field to lab

The segment focuses on the archaeological site of Poulton in Chester, which contains the remains of a 13th century chapel and cemetery. Nearly 1,000 well-preserved skeletons dating between the 13th and 16th century have been excavated from the cemetery.

In the episode, the Digging for Britain team visit Poulton with members of the Crick's Ancient Genomics lab, Pontus Skoglund and Tom Booth, who show us how they collect samples from the skeletons. We then return to the Crick, where Frankie Tait talks us through how she retrieves DNA from the samples to be sequenced using cutting-edge technology. The results can suggest the presence of disease and the cause of death, helping to uncover mysteries surrounding the lives of the people buried on this ancient site.

Behind the scenes

The scientists were accompanied by Clare Green and Steve Potvin from the Communications team, who helped to organised the filming. They told us a bit about their experience:

It was really interesting to see human remains being excavated in person. It’s the sort of thing you see a lot on tv and movies, but I’ve rarely had the opportunity to experience it up close like that.

It was also a great opportunity to get some nice drone shots of the dig site and the British countryside. Seeing those clips on a BBC programme (and on the news last week) was just a nice bonus!

– Steve Potvin, Digital Content Officer

Our segment on Digging for Britain was a long time in the making – we went up to Poulton near Chester to film last April and then the crew filmed in the ancient DNA laboratory last August – so I was eagerly waiting for it to come out! 

It was fascinating seeing the whole process, from the enthusiasm of the archaeologists at the dig site to Tom extracting the ossicles from the skulls and finally the bones being cleaned and processed back here in the Crick by Frankie. And of course Pontus in the Digging for Britain tent (should this become a regular part of communicating our research?)

The final piece is a lovely showcase of how all the different disciplines come together, highlighting that ancient DNA and archaeology need each other to make sense of some very intriguing findings!

– Clare Green, Media & Communications Officer

How to watch

The episode is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer (season 12, episode 4: Roman Crime and Ancient DNA, segment from 46:16), and will be broadcast on BBC1 onTuesday 14 January at 20:00.