Dear colleagues,

Reminder - Biology Thursday Seminar today, 16th May, 12:15 on site in room MA335 with

Dr. Tiina Mattila from Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, on "Gene flow, isolation and kinship in Stone Age Eastern Europe and Scandinavia"

The genetic structure of Stone Age western Eurasian human populations was strongly associated with major cultural changes. Before the transition to agriculture genetically differentiated hunter-gatherer groups inhabited western Eurasia. Some of these groups invented agriculture in the Fertile Crescent starting approximately 12,000 years ago. Over the next few thousand years, agriculture spread across much of Europe. Thanks to the development of ancient DNA research in recent decades, we now know that this spread was largely mediated by the migration of people. In the first part of the talk, I will refine the spatio-temporal details of this process using an ancient DNA investigation of population structure, isolation, and gene flow in central, eastern, and northern Europe before and after the spread of agriculture.

In addition to revealing broad population structure, ancient DNA within-population studies can help to identify the social factors influencing the organization of prehistoric societies. For this purpose, in the second part of the talk, I will present archaeogenomic results concerning the within-population structure of the sub-Neolithic Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) foragers from Gotland, Sweden. I will discuss the results in light of the variability and evolution of social systems in general.

More research by Tiina at: https://scholar.google.fi/citations?hl=fi&user=RwUEbrsAAAAJ&view_op=...

See you there,

Heikki

=============================================== Heikki Helanterä Professor Ekologian ja genetiikan tutkimusyksikkö / Ecology and Genetics Research Unit Oulun Yliopisto / University of Oulu / Finland heikki.helantera@oulu.fimailto:heikki.helantera@oulu.fi +358 50 4700 545