The production of scientific knowledge is highly unequally distributed across the globe, both in quality and quantity, and Europe is no exception. Developing research capacities in regions with currently weak research activity requires investment and measures on many fronts. One step that scientists themselves can realise is sharing knowhow and cross-national collaborations. Ancient DNA (aDNA), the study of genetic material from organisms that lived in the past, is a rapidly growing field where striking regional differences can be observed in research output today. Ancient DNA research can help address questions on human history, as well as evolutionary questions on diverse species from mammoths to bacteria. This research frequently involves material collected from across the world, but the experiments and analyses are conducted only in a few labs mostly in the Global North.
The aim of this 4-year NEOMATRIX project has been to create an expertise-sharing and joint research-oriented network among four European ancient DNA teams, in Ankara (Middle East Technical University and Hacettepe University), Heraklion (Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas), Paris (Institut Jacques Monod, Université de Paris - French National Centre for Scientific Research), and Stockholm (Stockholm University Centre for Palaeogenetics).
The joint research work conducted within NEOMATRIX has involved investigating Neolithic and later societies using aDNA and isotopes, especially in relation to the expansion of farming societies in the Mediterranean around 10,000-6,000 years ago, and interpreting the results in relation to current archaeological theory. The primary goal of NEOMATRIX has been to share know-how and expertise among the teams, to boost the development of the teams in Ankara and in Heraklion, which were both relatively young groups in 2020, while those in Paris and Stockholm are long-established and renowned labs in the field. A related objective was to train young researchers with state-of-the-art research skills and support their career development. A secondary goal is to develop novel approaches and solutions to research problems in archaeogenomics, such as improving DNA yields in lowly preserved ancient skeletal samples, or improving the accuracy of inferences made using ancient genomes, e.g. related to how much genetically related two ancient individuals are. Another objective was to seek ways to convey archaeogenomics results to the public most effectively and accurately, taking into consideration potential misunderstandings of the messages caused by genetic essentialist fallacies.
