--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So what we can answer [as geneticists] is…" description: "\"So what we can answer [as geneticists] is questions about biology, about biological ancestry. But to make any sense of that historically we have to con..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg" --- # So what we can answer \[as geneticists\] is questions about… ![“So what we can answer [as geneticists] is questions about biology, about biological ancestry. But to make any sense of that historically we have to contextualize it -- the archaeology, the linguistic pattern, even the climatology.” quote by Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg) > “So what we can answer \[as geneticists\] is questions about biology, about biological ancestry. But to make any sense of that historically we have to contextualize it -- the archaeology, the linguistic pattern, even the climatology.” [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding human origins requires integrating genetics with archaeology, linguistics, and climate science to form a full picture. **In simple terms:** Genetics alone isn’t enough; combine it with other fields. Key Takeaway Study multiple disciplines for a complete view. Themes interdisciplinary research human origins science integration Mood curious thoughtful Type educational informative When to use this quote - anthropology research - educational lectures - policy making - public outreach Key Concepts genetics archaeology linguistics climatology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance conflicting evidence? - What discipline offers the biggest missing piece? A Different Perspective Complex data may conflict, demanding careful synthesis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ancestry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancestry/) [Archaeology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/archaeology/) [Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) ## Related quotes > [“Countless doctors have drawn little tic-tac-toe grids for my parents over the years to try to explain the genetic lottery to them. Geneticists”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-j-palacio/countless-doctors-have-drawn-little-tic-tac-toe-grids-for-my-parents/) [R.J. Palacio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-j-palacio/) > [“After a handful of geeks sequenced the Neanderthal genome and found a 2% match, they opened the flood gates to hundreds of geneticists that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gaede/after-a-handful-of-geeks-sequenced-the-neanderthal-genome-and-found-a/) [Bill Gaede](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gaede/) > [“Geneticists are a group of mathematicians who have taken over the Neanderthal Paleontology Guild. They call the shots now.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gaede/geneticists-are-a-group-of-mathematicians-who-have-taken-over-the/) [Bill Gaede](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gaede/) > [As a consequence, geneticists described evolution simply as a change in gene frequencies in populations, totally ignoring the fact that evolution consists of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mayr/as-a-consequence-geneticists-described-evolution-simply-as-a-change/) [Ernst Mayr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mayr/) > [Geneticists believe that anthropologists have decided what a race is. Ethnologists assume that their classifications embody principles which genetic science has proved correct. Politicians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lancelot-hogben/geneticists-believe-that-anthropologists-have-decided-what-a-race-is/) [Lancelot Hogben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lancelot-hogben/) > [Realizing how often ingenious speculation in the complex biological world has led nowhere and how often the real advances in biology as well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hunt-morgan/realizing-how-often-ingenious-speculation-in-the-complex-biological/) [Thomas Hunt Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hunt-morgan/) > [If you talk to geneticists they are constantly finding that your genes are being switched on and off because of the environment. Genes alone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/if-you-talk-to-geneticists-they-are-constantly-finding-that-your/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [Writers like Aldous Huxley and George Orwell have imagined the sort of scientific utopia which is coming to pass, but already their nightmare fancies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/writers-like-aldous-huxley-and-george-orwell-have-imagined-the-sort/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [All the work on heritability was never based on looking at genes; it was based on the similarity between identical twins or between parents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-kagan/all-the-work-on-heritability-was-never-based-on-looking-at-genes-it/) [Jerome Kagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-kagan/) > [We have long been seeking a different kind of evolutionary process and have now found one; namely, the change within the pattern of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-goldschmidt/we-have-long-been-seeking-a-different-kind-of-evolutionary-process/) [Richard Goldschmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-goldschmidt/) > [“Dimly, as if through a veil, geneticists were beginning to visualize patterns and themes: threads, strings, maps, crossings, broken and unbroken lines, chromosomes that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddhartha-mukherjee/dimly-as-if-through-a-veil-geneticists-were-beginning-to-visualize/) [Siddhartha Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siddhartha-mukherjee/) > [“Icelanders are among the most inbred human beings on earth—geneticists often use them for research.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/icelanders-are-among-the-most-inbred-human-beings-on-earth/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [DNA ties us all together; we share ancestry with barracuda and bacteria and mushrooms, if you go far enough back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/dna-ties-us-all-together-we-share-ancestry-with-barracuda-and/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [It turns out that every person alive today can trace his or her ancestry back to Africa. Everyone's DNA tells a story of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/it-turns-out-that-every-person-alive-today-can-trace-his-or-her/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-archaeology-you-uncover-the-unknown-in-diplomacy-you-cover-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Spencer Wells > [It turns out that every person alive today can trace his or her ancestry back to Africa. Everyone's DNA tells a story of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/it-turns-out-that-every-person-alive-today-can-trace-his-or-her/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [We spent an enormous amount of time as hominids and as primates living as hunter-gatherers. That is the natural way for us to live,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/we-spent-an-enormous-amount-of-time-as-hominids-and-as-primates/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [“Creativity is imagining something that isn't there and making it real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/creativity-is-imagining-something-that-isn-t-there-and-making-it-real/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [DNA ties us all together; we share ancestry with barracuda and bacteria and mushrooms, if you go far enough back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/dna-ties-us-all-together-we-share-ancestry-with-barracuda-and/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [Imagine you're copying a very long document, and occasionally you'll put an A where there should be a C. And that mistake has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/imagine-you-re-copying-a-very-long-document-and-occasionally-you-ll/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [“The biggest revolution of the past 50,000 years of human history was not the advent of the Internet, the growth of the industrial age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/the-biggest-revolution-of-the-past-50-000-years-of-human-history-was/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [We are all Africans under the skin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/we-are-all-africans-under-the-skin/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [Every drop of human blood contains a history book written in the language of our genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/every-drop-of-human-blood-contains-a-history-book-written-in-the/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [If you go far enough back, your genome connects you with bacteria, butterflies, and barracuda - the great chain of being linked together through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/if-you-go-far-enough-back-your-genome-connects-you-with-bacteria/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [Many of the crises we see in the 21st century, I would argue, have their roots in the dawn of the Neolithic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/many-of-the-crises-we-see-in-the-21st-century-i-would-argue-have/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [What if I told you every single person in America - every single person on Earth - is African? With a small scrape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/what-if-i-told-you-every-single-person-in-america-every-single-person/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [Taken with the archaeological data, we can say that the old hypothesis of an invasion of people - not merely their language - from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/taken-with-the-archaeological-data-we-can-say-that-the-old-hypothesis/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) > [The greatest history book ever written is the one hidden in our DNA.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/the-greatest-history-book-ever-written-is-the-one-hidden-in-our-dna/) [Spencer Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) [Explore all 14 Spencer Wells quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/) ## More Ancestry quotes > [It is worthwhile for anyone to have behind him a few generations of honest, hard-working ancestry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-worthwhile-for-anyone-to-have-behind-him-a-few-generations-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Blood is a destiny. One's genius descends in the stream from long lines of ancestry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/blood-is-a-destiny-one-s-genius-descends-in-the-stream-from-long/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [My life shall be free and broad and great, and I will not be the slave to the sense delights which chained my ancient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-london/my-life-shall-be-free-and-broad-and-great-and-i-will-not-be-the-slave/) [Jack London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-london/) > [High birth is an accident, not a virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-metastasio/high-birth-is-an-accident-not-a-virtue/) [Pietro Metastasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-metastasio/) > [Being a mixed-blood person of Ojibway and European ancestry, I always found that I only heard one side of the story - that was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-boyden/being-a-mixed-blood-person-of-ojibway-and-european-ancestry-i-always/) [Joseph Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-boyden/) > [Bird taxonomy is a difficult field because of the severe anatomical constraints imposed by flight. There are only so many ways to design a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/bird-taxonomy-is-a-difficult-field-because-of-the-severe-anatomical/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [I've got German, Cornish and Scottish ancestry. It might help explain my affinity for forests, the sea, and fatty foods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyle-maclachlan/i-ve-got-german-cornish-and-scottish-ancestry-it-might-help-explain/) [Kyle MacLachlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kyle-maclachlan/) > [“I have always found it difficult not to be moved by Jerusalem, even when I hated it—and God knows I have hated it for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/i-have-always-found-it-difficult-not-to-be-moved-by-jerusalem-even/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [I've never felt grounded because of my ancestry or my gender. I think until women get away from that they're not going to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-smith/i-ve-never-felt-grounded-because-of-my-ancestry-or-my-gender-i-think/) [Patti Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-smith/) > [I get anxious. That lovely Jewish guilt that comes with ancestry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-rudolph/i-get-anxious-that-lovely-jewish-guilt-that-comes-with-ancestry/) [Maya Rudolph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-rudolph/) > [The function of the artist is to disturb. His duty is to arouse the sleeper, to shake the complacent pillars of the world. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-bethune/the-function-of-the-artist-is-to-disturb-his-duty-is-to-arouse-the/) Norman Bethune > [Both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/both-the-ancestry-and-posterity-of-grief-go-further-than-the-ancestry/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-wasn-t-trying-to-work-out-my-own-ancestry-i-was-trying-to-get/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Ancestry is not destiny,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/ancestry-is-not-destiny/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > […Even the idea of a city never entered his mind. It was as if he had walked under the millimeter of haze just above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ondaatje/even-the-idea-of-a-city-never-entered-his-mind-it-was-as-if-he-had/) [Michael Ondaatje](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ondaatje/) [Browse all 256 Ancestry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancestry/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So what we can answer [as geneticists] is questions about biology, about biological ancestry. But to make any sense of that historically we have to contextualize it -- the archaeology, the linguistic pattern, even the climatology.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Spencer Wells" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is-questions-about-biology-about/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ancestry" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is-questions-about-biology-about/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/spencer-wells-33666_ancestry_so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is_3126654.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So what we can answer [as geneticists] is questions about biology, about biological ancestry. But to make…” — Spencer Wells", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Spencer Wells", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-wells/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "So what we can answer [as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is-questions-about-biology-about/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-wells/so-what-we-can-answer-as-geneticists-is-questions-about-biology-about/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```