Project description
Ancient DNA may shed light on European social relationships in the Iron Age
DNA has become a topic of everyday conversation. Now, the study of ancient DNA is ramping up, thanks to recent technological breakthroughs. Discoveries are reshaping understanding of the past, including the movements and interactions of people in the ancient world. Of course, getting enough ancient DNA samples for a large study is complicated, which is what makes COMMIOS so unique. Scientists are studying DNA from about 1 250 people who lived in the UK and continental Europe during the Iron Age. Combined with isotope analysis and archaeological methods, they plan to shed light on population movement and social relationships including families, gender-specific mobility, and social inequalities. There is a lot to be learned about people from their ancient DNA.
Objective
Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA and isotope analysis are transforming our understanding of diversity, mobility and social dynamics in the human past. COMMIOS integrates these cutting-edge methods on a scale not previously attempted, within a ground-breaking interdisciplinary framework, to provide a radically new vision of Iron Age communities in Britain (800 BC – AD 100) within their wider European context.
At the broad scale, we will conduct the first concerted programme of genome-wide ancient DNA analysis on Iron Age populations anywhere in the world (c. 1000 individuals in the UK, 250 in Europe), mapping genetic clusters to shed light on ancient populations themselves and on their relationships to modern genetic patterning. Together with isotope analysis, and underpinned by both osteoarchaeological and cultural archaeological approaches, this will also enable us to directly address critical issues of population movement and inter-regional connectivity in Iron Age Europe. We will utilise the power of these new scientific methods to examine the structure and social dynamics of Iron Age societies in Britain, including household and kin-group composition, the identification of familial relationships, gender-specific mobility, and the development of social inequalities. Previously the preserve of cultural anthropologists studying recent societies, we will draw these questions into the archaeological domain, opening up new areas of enquiry for prehistoric societies.
The scope and scale of the project represents a new departure for European archaeology, made possible by the coming-of-age of new analytical methods. Many of these have been pioneered by the project team, which comprises world-leaders in the fields of ancient DNA, isotope analysis, osteoarchaeology, chronological modelling and cultural archaeology. Although focussed on Iron Age Britain, the project will establish a new benchmark for future analyses of other regions and periods in Europe and beyond.
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Funding Scheme
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantHost institution
YO10 5DD York North Yorkshire
United Kingdom