Dr. Elizabeth (Lisa) Matisoo-SmithProfessor of Biological Anthropology and ChairDepartment of Anatomy, University of OtagoThe Powers and Pitfalls of Molecular ArchaeologyIn 1989 it was announced in Nature that DNA could successfully be extracted fromarchaeological bone, and thus was born the field of molecular archaeology. The lastdecade has seen the field flourish with the development of Next Generation Sequencing(NGS) technology. While the results of many molecular studies have contributedpositively to our understanding of prehistory, others have not. It must be recognised thatmolecular techniques are just tools, and like all tools, they are only useful if usedproperly. What is most important is that the right questions are asked, the appropriatesamples to answer those questions are collected, and the results interpreted in thecontext of the current knowledge. This paper discusses the past, present and future ofmolecular archaeology, focusing on both the strengths and the weaknesses of theapplication of molecular techniques and the interpretation of molecular data withregards to reconstructing the prehistory of the Pacific.