Related published articles:

• Fortes-Lima, C.A., Burgarella, C., Hammarén, R. et al. The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa. Nature 625, 540–547 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6
• Carina M. Schlebusch et al., Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago. Science 358, 652-655 (2017). DOI: 10.1126/science.aao6266
• Mário Vicente, Carina M Schlebusch, African population history: an Ancient DNA perspective, Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, Volume 62, 2020, Pages 8-15, ISSN 0959-437X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.008.

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)

Relevant published articles:

• Mummification in the Mesolithic: New Approaches to Old Photo Documentation Reveal Previously Unknown Mortuary Practices in the Sado Valley, Portugal (Permanent link: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-468940)

• Rita Peyroteo Stjerna UU profile page
• Publications on Google Scholar

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.

Research Project (2024-2027) funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR): “Holding on to the Dead. Investigating Mummification in European Prehistory” (link: https://www.vr.se/english/swecris.html#/project/2023-01175_VR)

• Project publications

Related article:

• McColl et al. 2024 (prepress). Steppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic Languages

• Guus Kroonen bio page (Leiden University, NL)

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, Guus Kroonen 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 his talk, Kroonen discussed the challenges of interpreting archaeogenomic evidence at clarifying language origins and dispersals.