Project description
Latest DNA technology uncovers African prehistory
Knowledge of the human evolutionary process in Africa is instrumental for the comprehension of the origins of our species. However, as few ancient genomes from Africa are available, genetic studies look into the varieties of humans in contemporary Africa. Consequently, our knowledge of Africa’s population history is limited if compared to the scientific results concerning the movements of different humans in Europe. The EU-funded ORIGIN project aims to fill the knowledge gap, taking advantage of the recent developments in aDNA methodology. It will use genomes from ancient Africans as far back as the Later Stone Age to generate genome-wide data and compare them with the available data from present Africans.
Objective
Human history in Africa over the last tens of thousands of years is an integral part of understanding the origins of our species. The starting point for most genetic studies of human origins has been based on the depth of present-day human diversity between and within African populations. Even though aDNA studies provided additional resolution and transformed our understanding of the past demography of different human groups reaching as far as ~430ka in Europe, due to the challenging conditions for endogenous DNA preservation, relatively few ancient genomes have been recovered from Africa compared to Europe and Asia, limiting our insights into the population history of the African continent. This project aims to fill-in this gap by making use of the recent advancements in aDNA methodology and generate genome-wide data from a larger number of ancient African individuals across the continent and dating as far back as the Later Stone Age, i.e. to at least ~20ka. These ancient genomes will be analysed together with the published present-day and ancient modern human, as well as archaic datasets in order to investigate migrations, level of interactions, admixture and population structure of different human groups within Africa, as well as between Africa and other parts of the world.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history prehistory
- social sciences sociology demography
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
NW1 1AT London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.