Center for the Human Past
Seminars
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Mini-Seminar: Methods to infer past and future species distribution based on environmental data, with Marco Gargano
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Read more →: Mini-Seminar: Methods to infer past and future species distribution based on environmental data, with Marco GarganoThis mini-seminar aims to stimulate discussion on methods that bridge the interests of population geneticists and archaeologists. The seminar host: Francesco Giannelli Invited guest researcher: Marco Gargano (a postdoctoral fellow in evolutionary biology, Marche Polytechnic University, Italy
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Mini-Seminar: An agenda for palaeosociolinguistics. Using ethnographic models to interpret patterns in historical linguistics, with Roger Blench
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Read more →: Mini-Seminar: An agenda for palaeosociolinguistics. Using ethnographic models to interpret patterns in historical linguistics, with Roger BlenchAbstract One major problem for dating the origin and dispersal of language phyla, or indeed their individual branches, is that they do not diversify at a standard rate. Once the great hope for dating language families, and regularly invented with ‘new’ mathematical methods and improved algorithms, glottochronology continues to fail to convince all but small…
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SCAS Seminar: Echoes of Preliterate Voices on the Shores of the Baltic Sea, with Anthony Jakob
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Read more →: SCAS Seminar: Echoes of Preliterate Voices on the Shores of the Baltic Sea, with Anthony JakobAbstract When people think of their ancestry, they are often just as concerned with the origins of their linguistic and cultural identity as they are with their genetic history. And while modern advances in ancient DNA have dramatically improved our understanding of prehistoric population movements, genes do not themselves carry language. The fields of population…
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Mini-Seminar: Biomolecular perspectives on Corded Ware subsistence: integrating isotopic, proteomic and lipid evidence in the context of steppe-derived economies, with Łukasz Pospieszny
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Read more →: Mini-Seminar: Biomolecular perspectives on Corded Ware subsistence: integrating isotopic, proteomic and lipid evidence in the context of steppe-derived economies, with Łukasz PospiesznyAbstract Recent advances in biomolecular archaeology have transformed our understanding of prehistoric subsistence strategies, yet their implications for broader questions of mobility, environment and language dispersal remain insufficiently integrated. This presentation explores dietary practices among Corded Ware populations through a combination of stable isotope analysis, palaeoproteomics and organic residue analysis of ceramics. Stable isotope data…
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Talks of the Past Open Seminar: Archaeology, Genetics and Language, with examples from Germanic and Celtic
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Read more →: Talks of the Past Open Seminar: Archaeology, Genetics and Language, with examples from Germanic and CelticInvited seminar speaker: Kristian Kristiansen – an interdisciplinary researcher, professor of archaeology at the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, and an affiliate professor at Globe Institute, Lundbeck Centre for Geogenetics, Copenhagen University.
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Talks of the Past Open Seminar with Gwenna Breton
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Read more →: Talks of the Past Open Seminar with Gwenna BretonTitle & Abstract TBA Gwenna Breton is a geneticist and bioinformatician at the University of Gothenburg.
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Talks of the Past open seminar: From Phonology to Phylogeny: Inferring Language Trees from Cognate Word Forms
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Read more →: Talks of the Past open seminar: From Phonology to Phylogeny: Inferring Language Trees from Cognate Word FormsAbstract Linguistic phylogenies are commonly inferred from abstract cognate classifications that encode relationships among lexemes. Although widespread, this practice has well-recognised limitations: it discards phylogenetic signal contained in segmental word forms, restricts the range of evolutionary questions that can be addressed, and treats cognacy judgments, which are hypotheses in their own right, as observed data.…
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Higher Seminar in Baltic Studies, Stockholm University, with Anthony Jakob
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Read more →: Higher Seminar in Baltic Studies, Stockholm University, with Anthony JakobThe Higher Seminar in Baltic Languages with Signe Rirdance (SU) and Anthony Jakob (SCAS). The seminar is split into two sessions (with a coffee break in between): 14:00-15:30 – Signe Rirdance (SU): “Deciphering Getzel’s hand in early Latvian: AI and I” 16:00-17:30 – Anthony Jakob (SCAS): “Linguistic ghosts and zombies in modern Standard Lithuanian” Language:…
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Mini-Seminar: Models, data, and their limits: What can we know about the deep history of language families? with Philipp Rönchen
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Read more →: Mini-Seminar: Models, data, and their limits: What can we know about the deep history of language families? with Philipp RönchenAbstract Computational methods are increasingly used to reconstruct the deep history of language families, yet different models often produce strikingly different answers. This reflects a general challenge in the historical sciences: we must draw conclusions from fragmentary data shaped by complex processes that cannot be directly observed or experimentally repeated. In this talk, I summarise…
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Mini-Seminar: Using the dog to date Torricelli languages with linguistic paleontology, with Erik Elgh
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Read more →: Mini-Seminar: Using the dog to date Torricelli languages with linguistic paleontology, with Erik ElghAbstract The earliest archaeological dog remains in Melanesia found to date are from Babase Island, New Ireland, and are associated with the Early Lapita layers on the site, thus dating from ca. 3300-3000 BP (Summerhayes et al. 2019, see Manne et al. 2020 for an overview of dog remains in the area). The formation of…
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Talks of the Past Open Seminar: The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe 5000 Years Ago, speaker Volker Heyd
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Read more →: Talks of the Past Open Seminar: The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe 5000 Years Ago, speaker Volker HeydAbstract This lecture examines the westward migration of Yamnaya populations from the Pontic-Caspian steppes into southeastern Europe around 3100–3000 BCE, reaching as far as the Tisza region in present-day Hungary. Archaeological evidence, particularly distinctive kurgan burials with standardised funerary practices, marks their presence across regions such as Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary. Despite the apparent…