Center for the Human Past


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

Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136 von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 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 […]

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

Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136 von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 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 […]

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

Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136 von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 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. […]

Carina Schlebusch inaugural lecture: “Mapping Human History through African Genetics”

Lecture Hall IX, Uppsala University Main Building Biskopsgatan 3, Uppsala, 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 […]

Talks of the Past (ToP) Open Seminar, Dec 4th, 2024: The Language Families of the World: Current State and Future Perspectives, speaker Harald Hammarström

Blåsenhus, UU, lärosal 21:136 von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala, 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 […]