Unearthing ancient social structures with sediment DNA

Humans and other living beings are constantly shedding DNA, and this DNA is preserved in archaeological sediments.

In 2021, I developed the first methods for reliably capturing and analyzing human nuclear ancient DNA (aDNA) from sediments, leveraging this abundant genetic resource as a reliable tracer of biological identity.

For ancient societies, such aDNA has the potential to function as forensic “breadcrumbs” that trace the spaces inhabited by ancient individuals.

At the well-documented, multi-phase Early Bronze Age settlement of Vráble, I will undertake a cutting-edge research program to obtain human aDNA from over 100 individual house floors, spanning the entire occupational area and 500-year history of the settlement.

The UNEARTH project will reveal inheritance patterns and social organization, and map individuals from the cemetery back onto the spaces where they left their genetic traces.

By integrating genetic, bioarchaeological, and isotope analyses, UNEARTH seeks to uncover socioeconomic stratifications and their role in prehistoric neighborhood organization.

The methods developed in UNEARTH for extracting and analyzing human aDNA from sediments will have wide-ranging impact on archaeogenetics, enabling new analyses on archaeological sites, cultures and time periods that lack associated human remains.

Crucially, UNEARTH will develop a robust framework for using human aDNA from sediments in cases where bones cannot be ethically sampled.

By establishing new methodology and best practices for sampling and analyzing sediment aDNA, this project will unlock rich genetic records that are ubiquitous at nearly every archaeological site in order to elucidate the lived experiences of prehistoric Europeans at unprecedented resolution.