The effort is somewhat comparable to solving a modern serial killer mystery by looking for the same DNA across different crime scenes, says John Hawks, an anthropologist and a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was also not involved in the study.
“If you can find the same DNA pattern on paintings, drawings or even places connected with Leonardo,” he says, “you would have some confidence you are looking at his genome—even without being able to find genealogical relatives today.”