We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommendations grounded in discussion about research on human remains from North America are not always generalizable worldwide. Here we propose the following globally applicable guidelines, taking into consideration diverse contexts. These hold that: (1) researchers must ensure that all regulations were followed in the places where they work and from which the human remains derived; (2) researchers must prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study; (3) researchers must minimize damage to human remains; (4) researchers must ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical re-examination of scientific findings; and (5) researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. We commit to adhering to these guidelines and expect they will promote a high ethical standard in DNA research on human remains going forward.

我们是一群代表不同全球社区和 31 个国家的考古学家、人类学家、策展人和遗传学家。我们所有人都参加了 2020 年 11 月举行的一个专门讨论古代 DNA 研究伦理的虚拟研讨会。人们普遍认为需要全球适用的伦理准则，但最近基于对北美人类遗骸研究的讨论提出的建议并不总是可在世界范围内推广。在这里，我们提出以下全球适用的指南，同时考虑到不同的背景。这些观点认为：(1) 研究人员必须确保在他们工作的地方和人类遗骸的起源地遵守所有规定；(2) 研究人员必须在开始任何研究之前准备详细的计划；(3) 研究人员必须尽量减少对人类遗骸的破坏；(4) 研究人员必须确保数据在发表后可供使用，以便对科学发现进行严格的重新检查；(5) 研究人员必须从研究开始就与其他利益相关者接触，并确保对利益相关者观点的尊重和敏感性。我们承诺遵守这些准则，并期望它们将促进人类遗骸 DNA 研究的高道德标准向前发展。