Center for the Human Past
CHP
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New VR grants for Mattias Jakobsson and Carina Schlebusch
Read more →: New VR grants for Mattias Jakobsson and Carina SchlebuschSearching for sapiens-specific evolution Mattias Jakobsson receives new funding from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, VR) to “develop a statistical, machine-learning–based framework that jointly analyses genomes from archaic humans, ancient southern Africans, and present-day populations.” In the next four years, the project expects to identify genomic regions and biological pathways that evolved rapidly during the…
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RJ funds a new program, “From Milk to Mead – Indo-European Food Culture in Prehistory”, co-led by Jenny Larsson
Read more →: RJ funds a new program, “From Milk to Mead – Indo-European Food Culture in Prehistory”, co-led by Jenny LarssonRiksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) is an independent foundation that supports research in the humanities and social sciences essential to understanding and addressing society’s current challenges, both nationally and globally. Through its funding, the foundation aims to promote basic research of the highest scientific quality. It also responds to the need for long-term, stable research funding. This…
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Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of India
Read more →: Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of IndiaSequeira, J. J., Kumar, L., van Driem, G., Thangaraj, K., & Mustak, M. S. (2026). Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of India. Heredity, 1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-026-00896-9 A new genetic study sheds light on the maternal ancestry and historical demographic dynamics of the Konkani population along the southwest coast of India. The research…
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Mattias Jakobsson receives an award from the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala
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Read more →: Mattias Jakobsson receives an award from the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of UppsalaThe 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…
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Gut microbes that trace ancient human journeys
Read more →: Gut microbes that trace ancient human journeysThe 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…
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Meet Jaison Jeevan Sequeira, our current Human Past SCAS Junior Fellow
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Read more →: Meet Jaison Jeevan Sequeira, our current Human Past SCAS Junior FellowWe are pleased to welcome Jaison Jeevan Sequeira, Guest Lecturer & Researcher, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, as our new fellow. Jaison is a population geneticist interested in the demographic history of South Asia. His doctoral thesis focused on the ancestral history and genomic diversity of linguistic populations along the southwest coast of India.…
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Matte Sjölander’s STSM Experience in Utrecht 2026
Read more →: Matte Sjölander’s STSM Experience in Utrecht 2026In June 2026, Mattias Sjölander visited Utrecht University to host a brainstorming session on integrating subfossil insect and pollen data in future analyses. The visit, a so-called Short-Term Scientific Mission within Open Palaeoecological Data (PalaeOpen), was funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). During my ongoing postdoctoral project at the Center for the Human…
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UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinction
Read more →: UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinctionA professor of linguistics with a Master’s in computer science and a PhD in computational linguistics, Harald goes an extra mile to document the languages that head towards extinction. “Throughout time, smaller languages have always been swallowed up by larger ones. But now, with globalisation, this is happening at an incredibly accelerated pace.” Language has…
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Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshell
Read more →: Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshellCarina Schlebusch is combining archaeology, genetics and biochemistry with the aim of discovering how human genes have adapted to changing lifestyles over thousands of years. Prehistoric DNA from skeletal remains in Africa can provide answers to questions about diet, disease and survival, and perhaps even offer clues about humanity’s future health. The goal now is…