Level |
36 month PhD Project for Early Stage Researcher (ESR), starting in spring 2012 |
Project |
Tracing genes and culture through the Neolithic |
Overview |
Demographic processes, including migration, population growth and decline, and admixture have been shown not only to affect patterns of genetic variation, but also the accumulation and distribution of culturally inherited traits. It is therefore to be expected that both genetic and cultural data contain information on the shared population histories and processes that have shaped them. Recent advances in modelling cultural evolutionary processes have drawn heavily on the "neutral model" in population genetics, and have been widely applied to explain typological variation in many archaeological and cultural datasets. Furthermore, through the application of newly developed statistical inference methods such as approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), which rely on comparisons of simulated and observed datasets, and models that incorporate both genetic and cultural processes, it is possible to infer population histories and evolutionary trajectories, and to explicitly compare different competing hypotheses. Critically, this latter approach allows the formal integration of both cultural and biological data on an equal footing in a coherent statistical framework for the first time. By considering genetic (Bradley and Burger) and cultural (Shennan and Karul) data generated by network partners, the ESR in this project will test a range of different hypotheses on the spread of Neolithic people and lifeways from the Near East to Europe around 7,000 years ago. Genetic data will include both ancient and modern human DNA, and cultural data will include information on the frequencies of different pottery and other artefact styles through time. Genetic variation will be analysed using serial coalescent approaches, which allows the incorporation of ancient DNA data from different time periods with modern genetic data. The distribution of culturally inherited traits through time will be studied using a newly developed neutral model. This approach uses a generation time-independent Moran process to overcome many of the unrealistic assumptions of previous neutral models of cultural change and incorporates factors such as population size and structure. In addition to looking at changes in the frequencies of specific artefact types through time, we will also consider archaeological proxies for overall accumulation of cultural complexity using the cultural transmission model described by Powell et al.. We will generate expectations of genetic and cultural data under the same range of demographic scenarios and compare these different hypotheses using ABC, which rests on the ability to generate simulated data from models that describe realistic demographic scenarios. The model will incorporate genetic and cultural data generated by partner ESRs and ERs, and the predictions of the model will be used to test the strength of the correlation between the genetic and material culture correlates of the Neolithic expansion. |
Supervisor |
Prof Mark Thomas |
Deadline |
Applications must be received by 15th January 2012 Please email an up-to-date C.V. (naming at least two referees) and a cover letter explaining your interest in this project. |
Funding | Funding is available through the Marie Curie ITN mobility program if at the time of the selection, applicants have not resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the starting date. Researchers can be nationals of any country other than the UK. However, the ESR Fellowships only cover the fee levels for EU citizens, not those for students from outside the EU. |
Requirements | Applicants should have an undergraduate degree (1st or 2.1 honours) and / or a master's degree in one of the following subjects: Genetics, biology, anthropology, maths or computational science. Applicants should also possess some bioinformatics skills or an aptitude for statistical analysis and computer programming. Eligibility criteria set by the European Union for Marie Curie ESR fellowships require that the applicants have no more than 4 years research experience prior to the envisaged starting date. |
Contact | In the first instance please contact the Laboratory Head, Professor Mark Thomas by email: m.thomas@ucl.ac.uk |
More... | Further information on this project |