Bryan Clifford Sykes was an Emeritus Professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford, British science writer and geneticist who was a Wolfson College Fellow. Sykes pushed forward the analysis of inherited conditions such as brittle bone disease and double-jointedness, and was one of the first to extract DNA from ancient bone and published the first report on retrieving DNA from an ancient bone in 1989 and became involved in many high-profile Ancient #DNA cases, including Ötzi the Iceman.... moreBryan Clifford Sykes was an Emeritus Professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford, British science writer and geneticist who was a Wolfson College Fellow. Sykes pushed forward the analysis of inherited conditions such as brittle bone disease and double-jointedness, and was one of the first to extract DNA from ancient bone and published the first report on retrieving DNA from an ancient bone in 1989 and became involved in many high-profile Ancient #DNA cases, including Ötzi the Iceman. He was popularly known for his two popular books on prehistory through studies of mitochondrial DNA and human history investigation, published a book, “the Seven Daughters of Eve,” where he explained the dynamics of maternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) inheritance, leaving their mark on the human population in 2001. He also published “Blood of the Isles” in 2006 in Canada and the United States, where he examines British genetic clans. Sykes began this work long before modern methods of whole-genome DNA sequencing were available. When, in the late 1980s, he, Erica Hagelberg and Robert Hedges of Oxford’s Research Laboratory for Archaeology first extracted DNA from bones up to 12,000 years old, they opted to focus on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). His collaboration with enthusiasts searching for the Bigfoot and Yeti raised eyebrows even higher. Hairs from bits of mystery creatures that had long lain in museums and temples made their way to his lab. The three-part Channel 4 series Bigfoot Files (2015) maintained the suspense to the end, but all the samples proved to come from known animal species. A hasty claim that a Yeti specimen was a match to a prehistoric polar bear proved to be a case of mistaken identity. For Sykes it was all education as entertainment – he never seriously believed that such creatures existed, but sought to encourage curiosity rather than squashing it. Sykes died on 10 December 2020.
