UCL Institute of Archaeology

Ian Barnes (Royal Holloway) will give the first seminar in the Term II Institute Research Seminar series on ancient DNA at the Institute on 14 January.  

The Term II Institute Research Seminar series looking at the field of ancient DNA is being organised by Mark Thomas (UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment) and coincides with the launch of a new ancient DNA Laboratory facility at the Institute.

Ian Barnes will give the opening seminar with a brief history of ancient DNA and all are welcome to attend. Ian began his research career studying archaeology, having failed to understand that the Indiana Jones films were not documentaries. Realising this error, he again took career advice from a Steven Spielberg film and moved to working on ancient DNA, working between Archaeology and Biology in York.

During subsequent spells in Oxford and UCL, he has been involved with many of the key ancient DNA studies of the ice age megafauna, including giant deer, sabretooth cats, short-faced bears and woolly mammoth. He is currently Reader in Molecular Palaeobiology in the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway.

The seminar will be followed by a reception in the Institute's Staff Common Room (Room 609).

Any enquiries about the seminar series may be directed to Mark Thomas.

Term II Institute Research Seminar Series Programme

• 14 January: A Brief History of Ancient DNA (Ian Barnes, Royal Holloway)
• 21 January: Giving ancient DNA a modern context: Migrating people, migrating diseases (François Balloux, UCL Genetics Institute)
• 4 February: Progress and prospects in archaeological DNA research (Michael Hofreiter, University of York)
• 18 February: The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe: A palaeopopulationgenetic view (Joachim Burger, JGU, Mainz)
• 25 February: Hunting our Molecular Past (Eske Willerslev, University of Copenhagen)
• 4 March: Towards a comprehension of early animal domestication through ancient DNA (Greger Larson, Durham University)
• 11 March: Ancient Pathogen Genomics: the evolution of infectious disease from the angle of historic pandemics (Johannes Krause, Eberhard Karls University)
• 18 March: Using archaeogenomic and computational approaches to unravel the history of local adaptation in crops (Robin Allaby, University of Warwick)