Center for the Human Past

UppTalk with Mattias Jakobsson
2025-06-03 12:00 - 12:30 (Europe/Stockholm)
Mattias Jakobsson is the guest at the next episode of the Uppsala University podcast series, UppTalk.
Link to listen (Zoom): Vad kan forntida DNA avslöja om människans evolution?
Mark your calendar!
For more information, go to UppTalk: Mattias Jakobsson on the Uppsala University website

Mini-Seminar: Graves & Grammar. Interdisciplinary approaches to changes in material culture, burial practice and language in Upper Dalarna 500-750 CE, with Joakim Wehlin and Yair Sapir
2025-05-21 15:15 - 16:30 | Villa Lugnet, von Kraemers allé 8, Uppsala, Sweden, 75236, Sweden
Speakers:
Yair Sapir, PhD of Scandinavian Languages, Senior Lecturer of Swedish, Kristianstad University
Joakim Wehlin, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Archaeology, Uppsala University

Summary
Recent archaeological studies demonstrate changes in the material culture and burial practice in Upper Dalarna around 500-750 CE. The material culture and burial practice go from a previously locally distinctive tradition with influences from all directions, to a tradition that culturally points towards clearer contacts with the Mälardalen region. As the recently published A Grammar of Elfdalian points out, Elfdalian and adjacent varieties, spoken to date in Upper Dalarna, have preserved some phonological and lexical features, which were inherited from the Ancient Nordic language (i.e., before c. 750 CE) and which were lost elsewhere in the Nordic language area after c. 750. Ancient Nordic was probably not native to Upper Dalarna at that time, as the local population is known to have consisted of hunter-gatherers and not farmers, as the native speakers of Germanic languages.
Results from both studies hence confirm the thesis that both material and immaterial influence have probably reached Upper Dalarna from the Mälardalen region. However, we believe that targeted interdisciplinary studies by means of an interdisciplinary research project could deepen our knowledge about this topic and further confirm. Hence, we would like to invite our audience to a discussion about the topic, suggestions for new perspectives that could be studied, as well as suggestions for concrete research collaboration for a future research project, where other disciplines are involved.

SCAS SEMINAR - Genetic Insights into Social Organisation of Neolithic Societies in Anatolia: Kinship and Gender Roles, speaker Mehmet Somel
2025-05-20 10:15 - 12:00 | Thunberg Hall, Linneanum, Thunbergsvägen 2, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Mehmet Somel is a professor of biology at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, and the Human Past Senior Fellow 2024-25.
The abstract will follow.

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, 7th May, 2025: Discussing mobility and cultural change in the context of Aegean Neolithization, speaker Mehmet Somel
2025-05-07 15:15 - 16:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 13:028 (plan 1)
Abstract
Mehmet Somel will present some recent results on the first steps of the Neolithic expansion westward, “out-of-Anatolia”. For this study, his group generated 30 new paleogenomes from six settlements in West and Central Anatolia dating to c.10,000-8,000 years ago. The researchers further compiled a digitalized material culture dataset comprising 58 cultural elements, from architecture and tools to burial types and pottery styles. The dataset revealed that the westward expansion of the Neolithic was much more diverse in its dynamics than usually assumed.
By 10,000 years ago, in West Anatolia, they found cultural adoption of Neolithic elements, but without genetic evidence for mobility. By 8,500 years ago, they found mobility from Neolithic core areas in the east, where the incomers mixed with local foraging groups in West Anatolia. Later, the descendants of this genetically mixed population expanded into Europe to establish the Neolithic there.
Secondly, Mehmet’s group performed a quantitative comparison of material culture similarities among settlements with their genetic and spatial proximities. This showed that genetic history had no explanatory impact on material culture similarities after controlling for spatial similarity. This supports the notion that material culture similarity patterns are shaped by background mobility rather than migration processes.
Related article (pre-press):
Koptekin, D., Aydoğan, A., Karamurat, C., Altınışık, N. E., Vural, K. B., Kazancı, D. D., … & Somel, M. (2024). Out-of-Anatolia: cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean. bioRxiv, 2024-06. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.23.599747v1.full

Mehmet Somel is a professor of biology at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, and the Human Past Senior Fellow 2024-25. He will deliver the ToP seminar on his current research project.
You can read about the fellowships and other research projects here.

Human Past Journal Club
2025-04-23 15:15 - 16:30 | Villa Lugnet, von Kraemers allé 8, Uppsala, Sweden, 75236, Sweden
Cesar A. Fortes-Lima, Mame Y. Diallo, Václav Janoušek, Viktor Černý, Carina M. Schlebusch. (2025). Population history and admixture of the Fulani people from the Sahel, The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 112, Issue 2, 2025, Pages 261-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.12.015
Simões, L.G., Günther, T., Martínez-Sánchez, R.M. et al. (2023). Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant. Nature 618, 550–556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6
Carina Schlebusch and Luciana Simões will present the articles.
PS
Two pieces of additional reading related to the discussion topic:
Lipson, M., Ringbauer, H., Lucarini, G. et al. High continuity of forager ancestry in the Neolithic period of the eastern Maghreb. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08699-4
Salem, N., van de Loosdrecht, M.S., Sümer, A.P. et al. Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7

Biomolecular Humanities Practical Workshop & JC Discussion
2025-04-09 14:00 - 16:30 | Villa Lugnet, von Kraemers allé 8, Uppsala, Sweden, 75236, Sweden
The workshop, led by Jerome de Groot, Ester Oras, Jess Thompson, Christopher Vardy, and Matthew Williams, follows up on the discussions from last year.
This interactive workshop will begin to explore collaboration and possible Biomolecular Humanities approaches. Through a consideration of approach and disciplinary practice, we will begin to establish ways that we might work towards answering some of the pressing questions arising from developing biomolecular approaches within the humanities. Everyone is welcome to contribute and participate in what will be a generative and productive meeting! Building on the work that we began together at our initial meeting last year the workshop looks to develop ways of rethinking and reworking our approaches to new data and techniques. Our leading contributors are drawn from Archaeology, Biology, English Literature, Archaeochemistry, and Cultural Genomics, and together we will outline some of the new thinking in our fields and the challenges (and rewards) of working in multidisciplinary ways.
Some initial thoughts on Biomolecular Humanities are outlined in the following paper: Oras, E., de Groot, J., & Björkstén, U. (2025). The ‘Biomolecular Humanities’? New challenges and perspectives. iScience. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224029067
The workshop will be followed by a discussion.

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, 2nd Apr 2025: Uralic spread, Seima-Turbino and flower pots, speaker Outi Vesakoski
2025-04-02 15:15 - 16:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 13:028 (plan 1)
Abstract

The seminal paper by Grünthal et al. (2022) advances a new scenario of Proto-Uralic disintegration and spread. They suggest a rapid spread of Uralic languages through Common Uralic, a dialect continuum whose breakup formed the Finno-Ugric language families. They suggest that the vector for Uralic spread was the Seima-Turbino trading network (ST), within which the Uralic languages ​​were used as lingua franca. The key hypothesis in the Sejma-Turbino scenario is that the trade network would have consisted of representatives of different Eurasian cultural groups for whom a common language would have been necessary. Timing of Proto-Uralic disintegration would have occurred during the ST, which was an intensive but short-lasting period about 4200-3800 years ago.
In her presentation, Outi Vesakoski will summarize the assumptions this hypothesis poses and discuss them in light of new genetic and psycholinguistic studies. The talk is based on a forthcoming paper on Uralic archaeolinguistics (Vesakoski, Elina Salmela & Henny Piezonka) in the Oxford Handbook of Archaeology and Language, edited by Martine Robbeets and Mark Hudson.

Map of Uralic language speaker areas at beginning of 20th century (drawn by BEDLAN member Timo Rantanen).
Related reading:
Grünthal, R., Heyd, V., Holopainen, S. et al. (2022). Drastic demographic events triggered the Uralic spread, Diachronica 39/4: 490–524.
Vesakoski, O., Salmela, E. & Piezonka, H. (2025). Uralic Archaeolinguistics. In M. Robbeets & M. Hudson (eds) Oxford Handbook of Archaeology and Language. (Forthcoming)

Outi Vesakoski is an associate professor of Finnish, Finno-Ugric, and Scandinavian languages at the University of Turku, Finland.
She is also a vice-director of the Human Diversity Consortium.
Areas of expertise:
BEDLAN, Evolutionary ecology, Environmental (cultural) adaptations, Language evolution, Cultural evolution, Genetic evolution, Human past studies, Human diversity, Finnish dialects, Lauri Kettunen, Uralic language speaker area, UraLex – Uralic basic vocabulary, UraTyp – Uralic typological database, Uralic Areal Typology, URHIA Uralic Historical Atlas, Digitized Database of Finnish Archaeological Artefacts, Quantitative methods, Spatial methods, Invasive species, Marine biology

HEAS seminar with Mehmet Somel: Social dynamics in neolithic Anatolia. Paleogenomic insights.
2025-03-17 10:30 - 12:00 | online

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, 5th Mar, 2025: Prehistoric plant DNA and the agricultural history of the Canary Islands, speaker Jenny Hagenblad
2025-03-05 15:15 - 16:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 13:028 (plan 1)
Abstract
The intimate relationship between humans and crop plants means that traces of human cultural practices become embedded in the crop genome. Aspects of past cultures not documented in written records can consequently be studied with genetic analyses of archaeological crop remains. Such analyses, however, come with their own particular set of challenges, not the least in finding suitable material to study. Some of the best preserved prehistoric crop remains in the world can be found in the mountains of Gran Canaria, and Jenny Hagenblad has used these to study the effects of societal upheavals.
Five hundred years ago, with the Hispanic conquest of the archipelago, the Canary Islands went through a rapid transition from neolithic isolation to a globalization hub, with dramatic consequences for the insular society. Jenny will give examples of how the genetic analysis of crops and crop remains have illuminated both the islands early prehistory, the agrarian consequences of the Hispanic conquest, and an influence of Canarian agriculture reaching well beyond the archipelago.

Composite image: Jenny Hagenblad.

Jenny Hagenblad is an associate senior professor at the Linköping University.
Her main scientific interest lies in analysing genetic data with evolutionary and population genetic methods to learn more about the evolutionary history of species.
As the study system, Jenny uses crop plants, which are not only of the utmost
importance to human sustenance but have also experienced very rapid evolution since their domestication.

Journal Club discussion
2025-02-26 00:00 - 23:59
Article: “The genetic origin of the Indo-Europeans“

SCAS SEMINAR - Pastoralists and Agriculturalists in the Rigveda and Beyond, speaker: Axel Palmér
2025-02-25 10:15 - 12:00 | Thunberg Hall, Linneanum, Thunbergsvägen 2, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Our Human Past Fellow Axel Palmér will deliver a talk on his current research project at one of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) seminars.
Welcome!

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, 5th Feb, 2025: 6000 years of ancient foodways in NE Baltics: biomolecular methods and social implications, speaker Ester Oras
2025-02-05 15:15 - 16:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 13:028 (plan 1)
Abstract
Biomolecular archaeology has taken a leading role in ancient dietary reconstructions. The molecular- and isotopic-level information gained from ancient skeletal remains and pottery can reveal a more cohesive but also nuanced picture of past foodways, thanks to its higher-resolution analytical capacities in terms of both obtained information and context-specific interpretations.
This talk will exemplify the benefits and possibilities of multi-proxy and -analyte biomolecular approaches, particularly put into use for creating long-term overviews of major dietary changes. I will use case studies from Estonia and build on the results of recently finished research project creating a 6000-years of regional foodways in NE Baltics.
Whilst doing so I will explain the main principles and analytical approaches of biomolecular dietary analysis from different archaeological materials, but also reflect on the importance of thorough archaeological and socio-cultural contextualisation when it comes to interpreting biomolecular results.

Photographs: Ester Oras and Tõnno Jonuks.

CHP Event (by invitation only)
2024-12-11 00:00

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, Dec 4th, 2024: The Language Families of the World: Current State and Future Perspectives, speaker Harald Hammarström
2024-12-04 14:15 - 16:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136, von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 752 37, Sweden
Abstract
The approximately 7,000 languages of the world is currently divided into no less than 422 lineages (= families + isolates) by the orthodox evidential criteria of Glottolog (glottolog.org).
Should we believe this number? To what extent is it subjective, consistent in meta-properties and dependent on the amount of research and documentation? The time-depth of the families so far established do not reach more than 10,000 years back in time whereas human language arguably goes back at least 300,000 years (probably further).
The inherent rate of linguistic change puts a limit on how deep linguistic data alone can probe, but are there combinations using evidence from other disciplines and general geospatial considerations that may take us further?

Mini-Seminar (by invitation only): Baltic kinship terms in Finno-Ugric, Indo-European kinship terms and their family structure
2024-11-27 00:00

Carina Schlebusch inaugural lecture: “Mapping Human History through African Genetics”
2024-11-13 11:00 - 12:00 | Lecture Hall IX, Uppsala University Main Building, Biskopsgatan 3, Uppsala, 753 10, Sweden
“In my research I use genetics as a tool to investigate human history. My special interest and expertise in the population history of Africa allow me the opportunity to investigate both recent population movements, associated with farming, as well as deep human history, which is rooted in Africa. My research group is positioned in the Human Evolution Program, at the Department of Organismal Biology, UU.”
Carina Schlebusch profile page
Find the venue on Maze Map

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, Nov 6th, 2024: New linguistic and archaeogenomic perspectives on the origin and spread of the Germanic languages, speaker Guus Kroonen
2024-11-06 14:15 - 15:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136, von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 752 37, Sweden
Synopsis
The Germanic languages, including English, German and the Nordic languages, are widely assumed to have dispersed from Southern Scandinavia after the Pre-Roman Iron Age. However, the demographic processes behind their diversification are not yet fully understood. In addition, it is currently not known when and from where the Germanic language group arrived in Scandinavia.
To understand the prehistoric and historical distributions of the Germanic languages, I contributed to a paleogenomic study analyzing 710 ancient genomes and 3,940 published genomes from western Eurasia. Results indicate a Late Neolithic cross-Baltic maritime migration and significant genetic shifts during the Migration Period, impacting populations across northern Europe.
In this talk, I will discuss the challenges of interpreting archaeogenomic evidence at clarifying language origins and dispersals.

Article Discussion (by invitation only): Steppe Ancestry in Western Eurasia and the Spread of the Germanic Languages
2024-10-23 00:00

Mini-Seminar (by invitation only): Blinded by the light - Bifacial points and human mobility in Västerbotten, Sweden
2024-10-16 00:00

SCAS symposium with Human Past Senior Fellow Yoko Yamazaki: Working and Eating Together – Uralic=Indo-European Contacts in the Bronze Age Working Communities
2024-10-08 10:15 - 12:00
ABSTRACT
The recent advancements in archaeology and archaeogenomics are elucidating dynamic demographic movements, or migrations, since the 3rd Mill. BCE, involving Indo-European and Uralic speakers in West Eurasia. In particular, Northern and Eastern Europe saw the expansion of the Indo-European associated culture, Corded Ware Culture (ca. 2800 – 2200 BCE). Subsequently, the metallurgy and trading network called Seima-Turbino Transcultural Complex emerged (ca. 2200/1900 BCE), and rapidly spread in the wide range including Eastern Europe and Fennoscandia. This is associated to the Uralic speakers’ expansion.
Thus, Indo-European and West Uralic speaking peoples probably came into contact as the Seima-Turbino Transcultural Complex grew, engaging in trading and metallurgy labors. This is indicated by Indo-European loanwords in the Uralic languages at various chronological stages. Even the
genetic evidence can be integrated in this context, too. It is reported that the admixture of Indo-European ancestries and Siberian ancestry component is found in several individuals from two of the Seima-Turbino burial sites. The Siberian ancestry is strongly associated to the Uralic speakers.
There is a Balto-Slavic word *talkā ‘a community of workers that was treated with a feast after work’, which was loaned in West Uralic. The implication of this loanword may tell us some aspects of their life in contacts, i.e., “eating and working together”. This talk will explore how this loanword can contribute to piece together the picture of the life of those speakers in contact.

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar: Oct 2nd, 2024: Toward Professional Ethics of Ancestral Human Remains Research: from Tissue to Biomolecules, speaker Rita Peyroteo Stjerna
2024-10-02 14:15 - 15:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136, von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 752 37, Sweden
Original photograph by T. Ketola, 2004. Used with permission.
Synopsis
Ancient human remains are highly prized research subjects because of the wealth of information they can provide about past lives, which otherwise would be difficult to uncover. In recent years, the astonishing development of biomolecular techniques such as residue and stable isotope analyses, proteomics, and the breakthrough of the next generation sequencing of ancient DNA, propelled Biomolecular Archaeology to a leading field of research, crossing major disciplinary boundaries between the Humanities and the Natural Sciences.
While the study of human remains is just one portion of the vast tool kit of biomolecular research, its rapid development aggravated a number of already existing challenges and underlined the ethical entanglements of research using human remains in a highly unregulated field.
In this seminar, I will focus on the biomolecular dimensions of human remains in research, how researchers approach this legacy, and how it differs from handling hard or soft tissue. By focusing on this aspect, I aim to highlight that biomolecular archaeologists not only have unique professional responsibilities, but also are exceptionally positioned to lead the debate forward.
This study is part of a larger research project – Ethical Entanglements: The Care for Human Remains in Museums and Research, which seeks to strengthen the competence and awareness, among museum professionals and researchers of the complex ethical dimensions of research and curation of human remains.

Mini-Seminar (by invitation only): Archaeolinguistic perspectives on the Proto-Indo-Iranian homeland
2024-09-25 00:00

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, Sept 4th, 2024: The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa, speaker Carina Schlebusch
2024-09-04 14:15 - 15:30 | Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136, von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 752 37, Sweden
Canoe floating in the Loange River near the port of Kabombo (photo by Peter Coutros, Ghent University)
Synopsis
The Bantu expansion, a defining event of Holocene Africa, profoundly transformed the continent’s linguistic, cultural, and biological landscape. This talk integrates genomic data with evidence from other disciplines to explore the migration of Bantu-speaking peoples, which began around 6,000 years ago in western Africa. By analyzing DNA from modern and ancient populations across Africa, we reveal how genetic diversity diminishes with distance from the origin, pinpointing key regions like Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as interaction hubs. Our findings underscore the complex interactions between migrating Bantu communities and indigenous groups, offering fresh perspectives that bridge the natural sciences and humanities, with implications for understanding African history and human variation.
A short film on the Ghent University BantuFirst project’s fieldwork can be viewed here (YouTube)
