Collaborative Research: Genomic and Isotopic Analyses of Population Interactions and Continuity

Studies of human population genetics can reveal patterns of human movements and interactions across millennia, advancing knowledge about how individual and group behaviors shape human societies. In this project, the investigators use genomic and isotopic methods and data to reconstruct long-term population histories and evaluate changes in mobility patterns through time, informed by historical and archaeological context.

The project advances science outreach and community engagement as well as graduate and postdoctoral training in STEM fields.

Rooted in rich archaeological and historical records, this project generates genomic, paleogenomic, and isotopic data to reconstruct population histories over a period of three millennia and address the following three objectives: 1) evaluate genomic variation and population dynamics, 2) investigate changes in mobility patterns, and 3) assess genomic and isotopic variation and evaluate genomic continuities/discontinuities within group lineages over time. The research can inform our understanding of the scale of interactions between various populations before and after major events.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.