About the Authors

Philip Francis Thomsen

Affiliation Centre for Ancient Genetics and Environments, Natural History Museum and Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Scott Elias

Affiliation Geography Department, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom

M. Thomas P. Gilbert

Affiliation Centre for Ancient Genetics and Environments, Natural History Museum and Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

James Haile

Affiliation Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Kasper Munch

Affiliation Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America

Svetlana Kuzmina

Affiliation Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Duane G. Froese

Affiliation Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Andrei Sher

† Deceased.

Affiliation Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Richard N. Holdaway

Affiliations Palaecol Research Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Eske Willerslev

ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk

Affiliation Centre for Ancient Genetics and Environments, Natural History Museum and Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PFT SE MTPG JH SK DF RNH EW. Performed the experiments: PFT JH SK DF RNH. Analyzed the data: PFT JH KM SK DF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PFT SE MTPG JH KM SK DF AS RNH. Wrote the paper: PFT EW. Initiated study on sediment-preserved DNA in temperate environments (Willerslev et al. 2003) and directed the research in the Hukanui Pool site: RNH.