2025 in a nutshell


The activities

Talks of the Past open seminars

with invited speakers: Ester Oras, Jenny Hagenblad, Outi Vesakoski, Mehmet Somel, Tanya Uldin, Hugo Reyes-Centeno & Julia Sturm

Mini-Seminars

with guest researchers Joakim Wehlin, Yair Sapir, Samuli Simelius & Julia Velkova

Journal Club discussion meetings

with guest speakers and/or moderators: Noel Amano, Luciana G. Simoes, Anthony Jakob, Hugo Reyes Centeno, and others

The first Human Past Interdisciplinary Retreat

with 23 senior and junior researchers and PhD students at Sigtuna Stiftelsen.

The people

Axel Palmér joined the Center as a new Assistant University Lecturer (known as BUL, in Swedish) in linguistics.

Francesco Giannelli is the second postdoctoral researcher in the Center (Mattias Sjölander, the first postdoc, has been with us since October 2024).

We also had the pleasure of working with the Human Past SCAS fellows: Axel Palmér, Mehmet Somel, Hugo Reyes Centeno and Anthony Jakob this year.


  • Mattias Jakobsson receives an award from the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala

    Mattias Jakobsson receives an award from the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala

    The 2026 prize for an interdisciplinary achievement of outstanding quality is awarded to Mattias Jakobsson for his distinguished research into human origins and prehistory. By linking Stone Age genomic data with archaeology and linguistics, Jakobsson has shown that there were different populations that engaged in farming, and hunting and gathering. Read more about the Royal…

  • Gut microbes that trace ancient human journeys

    Gut microbes that trace ancient human journeys

    The newest piece in Nature’s News & Views, co-authored by our PI, Carina Schlebusch and Maja Vukovikj from Human Evolution Program at Uppsala University discusses the study by Carter et al. exploring what our gut microbiomes can tell us about human population history. Humans have never travelled alone. When our ancestors spread out of Africa…

  • The unknown origins of humans on Swedish radio

    Mattias Jakobsson was featured on Swedish Radio’s morning program (Förmiddag i P1) today, 29 Sept 2026. His conversation with Nicke Nordmark, the program leader, is available at: https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/manniskans-okanda-ursprung (in Swedish). They talked about Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans and their coexistence; the unknown DNA in our genes; and the possibility that humans as we know…