EVENTS
9 October 2023 | 18:00 - 19:00 | Lecture hall in the State Museum of Prehistory | Halle/Saale
Public Lecture by Alexander Herbig
"Tracing the Justinian Plague. New insights from interdisciplinary historical research."
The plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is one of the most devastating diseases to strike humanity throughout its history. Its best-known outbreak, the Black Death, claimed the lives of millions of people in the European Middle Ages, however archaeogenetic research uncovered that the plague was already infecting people in the Stone Age. The first historically described plague pandemic is the Justinian Plague. According to historical documents, it began during the time of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian and subsequently spread throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. How many victims the pandemic claimed and how it affected the Roman Empire is debated. Mass graves like those from the time of the Black Death can hardly be found. For a few individual cases the genetic material of the pathogen could be reconstructed with the help of archaeogenetic methods, however, an epidemic context could not really be proven. Within the framework of the interdisciplinary research project HistoGenes, which investigates the upheavals of the Migration Period in East-Central Europe, we have now succeeded in identifying a large number of plague cases from the period of the Justinian Plague. A comparative analysis of the reconstructed genetic material of the pathogen strains offers new insights into the secrets of this first historically documented plague pandemic.
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt | Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte
Richard-Wagner-Straße 9 | 06114 Halle (Saale) | info@landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de |
More information here.
Fotocredit: Wolfgang Claussen (Pixabay)
9 -11 October 2023, Leipzig | Halle (Salle)
Plenary Meeting from HistoGenes
Max-Planck-Institut for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig & Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle (Saale).
30 August - 2 September 2023, Belfast, Northern Ireland
HistoGenes at the 29th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting
Members of the HistoGenes team will be present at the 29th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting from 30 August to 2 September 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Session #153 (Thursday):
RECONSTRUCTING HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIPS IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS: THE ROLES OF GEOARCHAEOLOGY, ZOOARCHAEOLOGY, AND ARCHAEOBOTANY IN WATER-DOMINATED AND IN WATER-DEPRIVED LANDSCAPES
11:45 THE SEEWINKEL IN THE EAST OF AUSTRIA - A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE AT A CROSSROADS
Bendeguz Tobias
Session #542 (Friday):
RECONSTRUCTING BIOLOGICAL RELATEDNESS AND INFERRING HUMAN RELATIONS IN THE PAST
11:15 KINSHIP AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF AVAR PERIOD DESCENDANTS OF STEPPE
COMMUNITIES INFERRED FROM ANCIENT DNA BASED PEDIGREES
Gnecchi Ruscone, Guido Alberto
11:30 INFERRING SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND BIOLOGICAL RELATEDNESS OF EARLY
MEDIEVAL POPULATION IN MORAVIA USING ANCIENT DNA
Denisa Zlámalová
18:15 FIRST RESULTS OF PUBERTAL TIMING FROM EARLY MEDIEVAL CENTRAL EUROPE
Contribution format: POSTER PRESENTATION
Contribution presented in session:
THROUGH INFANCY AND BEYOND:
BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CHILDHOOD
IN THE PAST
Paul Klostermann, Margit Berner, Doris Pany-Kucera, Zusanna Hofmanová
Session #697 (Saturday):
SO DIFFERENT, YET SO SIMILAR: BIOCULTURAL IDENTITY AND PLURALITY IN THE MEDIEVAL AND POSTMEDIEVAL WORLD
9:45 CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY DURING THE MIGRATION PERIOD FROM THE KESZTHELY-FENÉKPUSZTA FORTRESS PERSPECTIVE
Luca Traverso, Ádám Bollók
You can download the final program here.
3 July 2023, 16.30 - 18.00, University of Leeds
Third session of HistoGenes at the IMC 2023
MONDAY 3 JULY 2023: 16.30 - 18.00 Newlyn Building: 1.07
Session 302: TITEL: New Research about Women and Their Kin in the Early Medieval Steppe: Genetic, Archaeological, and Historical Results
Sponsor: HistoGenes: ERC Synergy Grant Project No 856453
Organiser & Moderator: Clemens Ganter, Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien
➢Walter Pohl, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien “Introduction: Histogenes”
➢Zuzana Hofmanová, Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Leipzig / Ústav archeologie a muzeologie, Masarykova univerzita, Brno "What Genetics Can Tell Us about Women and Their Kin"
➢ Bendeguz Tobias, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, ÖAW, Wien "How do Biological Kin Groups Relate to the Burial Evidence"
➢ Sandra Wabnitz, Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien "Women of the Eurasian Steppe and Their Kin in Latin, Greek, and Chinese Written Sources"
For more information please visit https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/.
You can download the full programme of the conference here.
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6. July 2023 | 9:00 - 10:15 CET | GWZO Leipzig
Annual meeting of the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO)
IV: Humans and Society
Chair: Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska (Leipzig)
Tivadar Vida (Budapest), The HistoGenes Project: The Role of Archaeology
Zuzana Hofmanová (Leipzig), The HistoGenes Project: The Role of Genetics on the Example of Avar Period Cemeteries
Check out the programm here: GWZO annual meeting
30 June 2023 | 16:00 CET | Hybrid event
Webninar Ancestry Reimagined
An outstanding expert panel uses Kostas Kampourakis’ book Ancestry Reimagined as a starting point to discuss potentials and challenges of genetic ancestry research and DNA ancestry testing.
With: em. Prof. Patrick J. Geary, historian
Kostas Kampourakis, science author
Prof. Sohini Ramachandran, geneticist
Philip Ball, science author
Debbie Kennett, genealogist
Prof. John November, geneticist
Check out the webniar here: https://vimeo.com/843882790?share=copy
Fotocredit: Patrick J. Geary
9 May 2023 | 9:00 CET | City Museum of Ljubljana | Hybrid event
Workshop on Slovenian Samples
In this workshop the first results of the archaegeonmic research on Slovenian samples will be presented and discussed.
Place: Conference hall, City Museum of Ljubljana, Gosposka 15
Time: 9.00-15.00
Programme:
9.10-9.40 Patrick Geary: HistoGenes - Integrating Genetic, Archaeological & Historical Perspectives on Eastern Central Europe 400-900 CE. European Research Council Synergy Grant no. 856453
10.00-10.30 Walter Pohl: What can HistoGenes tell us about the Early Medieval history of Central Europe?
11.00-11.30 Deven Vyas, Istvan Koncz: From Late Antiquity to the Slavic Middle Ages in modern Slovenia. An overview of genomic data.
11.45-12.15 Istvan Koncz, Deven Vyas, Tina Milavec: From Late Antiquity to the Slavic Middle Ages in modern Slovenia. The genomic and archaeological evidence / Med pozno antiko in slovanskim srednjim vekom v moderni Sloveniji: genetika in arheologija.
Zoom link: https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/96023834521?pwd=bXZDSFZJWTV5YnZ3ajVIcDNHSFErZz09
Meeting ID: 960 2383 4521
Passcode: 27003
3 May 2023 | 9:45 CET | Central European University Vienna | Hybrid event
Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
The Pre–History of the Medieval Nation: from the Imperium Romanum to Regna in Late Antiquity (400–800)
Organized by the Medieval Studies Department of the Central European University Vienna
Poster (PDF)
Medieval Studies Department | Central European University Vienna
1100 Vienna | Quellenstraße 51-55 | Room A-51
Registration and information: Bozic_Anja@phd.ceu.edu
Join online via the following link: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/99639802949?
pwd=eW90QmpUaE1KNEUyWG0yZFYvL0M1dz09
27. April 2023 | 19:00 CET | Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade
Science Cafè: Austria - Serbia
Archaeology and Genetics - Cutting-edge insights into early medieval history
With Walter Pohl, Vujadin Ivanišević and Ivan Bugarski (Serbian Academy of Sciences).
11000 Belgrad | Kneza Sime Markovića 2
23 November 2022 | 18:00 CET | Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Hybrid event
Lecture by Walter Pohl
The Huns and Avars in a Eurasian Context
Organized by the Israeli Forum of Early Medieval Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Poster (PDF)
Please register at https://forms.gle/fpUGiNqHnmQrZP9HA to receive the Zoom link.
Organisation:
Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE
Institute of Archaeogenomics, RCH, ELRN
Contact:
19 October 2022 | 18:15-19:30 CET | Budapest | Hybrid event
Public Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
Beyond Identity: What use is genomic data for rewriting
migration period history?
Institute of Archaeological Sciences | Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
1088 Budapest | Múzeum krt. 4-6 | Building A | Room 039
Zoom-link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89588348302?pwd=d2NZZXdFSysxS2o0bHNob1pFT00rUT09
Much of the use of ancient DNA in historical research has been directed toward discovering the origins and identities of migratory peoples. While much valuable results have come from this work, there is much more that the analysis of ancient DNA can tell us when combined with archaeological and anthropological research. In this lecture, following a brief discussion of the possibilities and dangers of looking for ethnic identities, Patrick Geary will discuss how scholars in the HistoGenes team are using these methods to explore such questions as changes in local communities over time, the extent of coalesce or divisions within communities, and role of biological kinship and marriage strategies in the construction and maintenance of social structures across this period of rapid political and cultural change.
18 – 21 October 2022, Budapest, Hungary
HistoGenes Plenary Meeting
6-8 October 2022, Halle/Saale, Germany
HistoGenes at the "15. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag"
Members of the HistoGenes team will be present at the "15. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag" in Halle/Saale in Germany.
6 October:
Walter Pohl: Genetic clusters, ethnonyms and cultural groupings: problems of interpretation of archaeogenetic results.
Ronny Friedrich: Calibration of 14C-dates using biological kinship.
8 October:
Zuzana Hofmanová: Kinship and relatedness during the Avar Age inferred by interdisciplinary archaeogenetic research.
Falko Daim: The Avars in the vicinity of Vienna. New insights by archaeogenetics.
For more information about the conference, please click here.
5 October 2022, Princeton, United States of America
HistoGenes Seminar - Environmental History Lab, Princeton University
On Wednesday, October 5, 2022, there will be a seminar on our project as part of the Environmental History Lab at Princeton University. Our researchers Patrick Geary, Krishna Veeramah, István Koncz, Yijie Tian and Deven Vyas will talk about the HistoGenes project.
Attendance is possible by Zoom (via registration) or in-person.
You can download the program here.
For more information on this event, please visit ehl.princeton.edu or email envhistlab[at]princeton.edu
31 August - 3 September 2022, Budapest, Hungary
HistoGenes at the 28th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting
Members of the HistoGenes team will be present at the 28th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting from 31 August to 3 September 2022 in Budapest, Hungary.
Session #339:
Bendeguz Tobias, Paul Klostermann: "More than Just Bones” - Understanding Past Human Adaption and Behaviour through the Study of Human Remains
https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2022/sessions/overview/preview.php?id=339
Session #371:
Organiser Tivadar Vida, Co-organisers: Zuzana Hofmanová, István Koncz, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Corina Knipper: Population History and Community Formation in Early Medieval East-Central Europe: Integrating Genetic, Isotopic, Archaeological and Historical Perspectives
https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2022/sessions/overview/preview.php?id=371
You can download the final program of Session #371 here.
25-29 August 2022, Vilnius, Lithuania
HistoGenes at the 23rd Paleopathology Association European Meeting
Members of the HistoGenes team will be present at the 23rd Paleopathology Association European Meeting on 25-29 August 2022 at Vilnius, Lithuania.
Doris Pany-Kucera will give an online poster presentation on "Physical burdens in an Avar period cemetery from Leobersdorf, Austria" on 27 August.
On 28 August Paul Klostermann will present the poster "Indicators of physical activity in Early Medieval individuals buried with archery artifacts from Vienna, Austria."
For further information please see the conference website here!
5 July 2022, 11.15 - 12.45, University of Leeds
Second session of HistoGenes at the IMC 2022
TUESDAY 05 JULY 2022: 11.15-12.45
Session: 601, Esther Simpson Building: LG08
Title: INTEGRATING GENETIC, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE, 400-900 (HISTOGENES), II: STEPPE PEOPLES BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL
Moderator: Walter Pohl
➢ Bendeguz Tobias, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien “Living on the Edge of the Avar Empire: Archaeological Perspectives”
➢ Doris Pany-Kucera, Anthropologische Abteilung, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien “Living on the Edge of the Avar Empire: Anthropological Perspectives”
➢ Sandra Wabnitz, Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien “Horse Lords of the Eurasian
If you want to follow our presentations online, please use this link.
For more information please visit https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/.
You can download the full programme of the conference here.
5 July 2022, 9.00 - 10.30, University of Leeds
First session of HistoGenes at the IMC 2022
TUESDAY 05 JULY 2022: 09.00-10.30
Session: 501, Esther Simpson Building: LG08
Title: INTEGRATING GENETIC, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE, 400-900 (HISTOGENES), I: FAMILIES, PEOPLES, AND MOBILITY
➢ Walter Pohl, “Early Medieval History and the Genetic Challenge: The Aims of the HistoGenes Project”
➢ Zuzana Hofmanová (Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Leipzig): “Inferring Large Pedigrees and Mobility Patterns from the Analysis of Early Medieval Genomes”
➢ István Koncz, (Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest): “The Role of Kinship in the Formation of Early Medieval Communities”
If you want to follow our presentations online, please use this link.
For more information please visit https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/.
You can download the full programme of the conference here.
20 May 2022, 5 pm – 11 pm CET | Vienna
HistoGenes at the "Lange Nacht der Forschung"
HistoGenes will present its unique project at the "Lange Nacht der Forschung 2022" ("Long Night of Research 2022") in Vienna. You will find us in the main building of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at Dr. Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2 and at the Museum of Natural History at Burgring 7. To find out more about our project, come visit us! We are looking foward to seeing you!
19 May 2022, 2.30 pm – 11 pm CET | Schallaburg, Lower Austria
Lecture by Walter Pohl
Wer waren Hunnen und Awaren? | Fachvortrag mit Ausstellungsrundgang
https://www.schallaburg.at/de/veranstaltungen/vortrag-wer-waren-hunnen-und-awaren
17 May 2022, 10.30 am – 4 pm CET | Hollandstraße 11-13, Vienna
HistoGenes Workshop - Vienna and Budapest Team
You can find the program of the workshop here:
Program HistoGenes Workshop Vienna Budapest
31 August – 3 September 2022 | Deadline: 14 February 2022
Call for Papers
EAA Budapest
Session #371
Theme: The Carpathian Basin: Integration, Mobility and Diversity
Session title: Population History and Community Formation in Early Medieval East-Central Europe: Integrating Genetic, Isotopic, Archaeological and Historical Perspectives
For more details see session abstract
8 November 2021 | 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm CET
Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
New Interdisciplinary History:
Studying Barbarian Migrations through Genomic Data
John Cabot University, Rome
https://calendar.johncabot.edu/event/new-interdisciplinary-history-studying-barbarian-migrations-through-genomic-data/
17 November 2021 | 4 pm – 6.30 pm CET
Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
Genomica storica e identità genetica
(applicazioni nella ricerca storica)
University of Turin
16 November 2021 | 4 pm CET
Public Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
Storia genetica e origine delle nazioni
Patrick J. Geary in dialogue with Alberto Piazza
Academy of Sciences, Turin
Please register at
https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-storia-genetica-e-origine-delle-nazioni-201543350587
Do, 7-10-2021 | 7 pm
The Archaeological Conference of Central Germany | 7-9 October 2021
Crossing boundaries
Mounted nomads in Central Europe, their eastern roots and connections
Central and Eastern Asia
15.30 to 16.00
Sandra Wabnitz (Wien/AT):
Soziale Hierarchie bei den zentralasiatischen Tuoba (4. bis 6. Jahrhundert) – Ein Modell für andere Steppenvölker?
19:00 keynote lecture
Prof. Dr. Walter Pohl (Wien/AT):
Forms of interaction and patterns of identification in the early medieval Eurasian steppes
Friday, 8 October
Avars (6th to 9th century)
14.30 to 15.00 Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause (Leipzig/DE):
Die Herkunft und genetische Geschichte der Awaren.
15.00 to 15.30 Prof. Dr. Tivadar Vida (Budapest/HU):
Archäologische und archäogenetische Forschungen zur awarischen Elite des 7. Jahrhunderts.
5-8 Okt 2021 | Munich | 53. Deutscher Historikertag
Deutungskämpfe
Walter Pohl | Wednesday 6 Oct 15:15–18:00 UTC+2
Frühmittelalterliche Migrationen und Identitäten im Spiegel naturwissenschaftlicher DNA-Analysen
Patrick J. Geary | Wednesday 6 Oct 18:45–20:30 UTC+2
Genetic History oder einfach Geschichte: die Integration genomischer Daten in die historische Forschung
Registration:
Please register here to participate in the lecture.
You will receive an e-mail with the link to the Zoom event.
Organisation:
Walter Pohl
Ingrid Hartl
Contact:
Ingrid Hartl
(Coordinator ERC HistoGenes)
Fri, September 24 2021 | 5.00 pm CEST | online
Public Lecture by Zuzana Hofmanová
Going Beyond Multidisciplinarity to Investigate 1st millennium CE in Central Europe:
Integrating Ancient Genomics, Anthropology, Archaeology and History
As you read this text, an unprecedented amount of ancient genomes are being generated from human skeletal remains found during archaeological excavations in the Carpathian Basin and surrounding regions. Those remains date mostly to the second half of 1st millenium and, in the project called HistoGenes, they can help us investigate questions of mobility, ethnicity, health and relatedness in these turbulent yet formative periods of European history. A key ambition of the project is to interlink the disciplines contributing their knowledge at every stage of the project to showcase how integration of genetic data into historical discourse can be achieved. And vice versa, how genetic analysis can be enriched by inclusion of insights, perspectives and hypotheses of other disciplines. This talk will discuss these issues and give an outlook why such integrative interdisciplinary approaches are important in today’s world more broadly.
23 – 25 September 2021
Plenary Meeting
Institute for Medieval Research
Vienna
Public Lecture by Zuzana Hofmanová on September 24 2021
9 September 2021 | EAA Annual Meeting 2021
European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting
468 BIOSOCIAL ARCHAEOLOGY:
WHEN ANCIENT DNA OPENS THE DISCUSSION TO
SOCIAL STRUCTURES
co-organised by HistoGenes team members
Anna Szécsényi-Nagy and István Koncz
Wed, May 5 2021 | 5.30 pm CEST
Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
Prove genetiche, fenomeni migratori e strutture sociali nel primo period longobardo in Italia
This paper is presented in the seminar Tra Antropologia e Storia: Nuove Prospettive.
For details see the poster.
Access via Microsoft Teams, to register, please contact info latinitas langobarda
Wed, April 28 2021 | 6:30 IDT (Israeli Daylight Time)
11:30 am - 1:00 pm EDT | 17:30 - 19:00 CEST
Lecture by Patrick J. Geary
HistoGenes: Introducing genomic data into
early medieval history
Organized by the Israeli Forum of Early Medieval Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Please register at https://forms.gle/pQasobFE1Fic4TBt9 to receive the Zoom link.
Poster (PDF)
Forthcoming
Steppe people exhibition
Senior researcher Falko Daim together with Dominik Heher prepares an exhibition on early medieval mounted steppe warriors from March to November 2022 at the Schallaburg, one of Austria’s main centres for large historical exhibitions, which will then move to the Museum für Vorgeschichte in Halle/Saale (Germany).
The exhibition will be devoted to nomadism and the formation of war elites in the Eurasian steppe zone, but then focuses on the entities of the Huns, Avars, Bulgarians and Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and Danube region. The comparative perspective will make visible the diversity of their social structures, their cultural characteristics and their material legacy. This exhibition will give a first opportunity to present results from HistoGenes, and to conduct accompanying research on some objects to be exhibited and their significance for an overarching historical narrative.
Forthcoming
Workshop
Questions of terminology
Translating the data of scientific archaeology into historical language
Postponed from September 2020, no date yet
Topic: How do we render the results of genetic and other scientific analyses comprehensible in historical terms and narrativse? In particular, the problem is the terminology in which we describe the different groupings which emerge from the clustering of genetic similarities/differences. To what extent can they be linked to cultural or ethnic labels? When do we need artificial designations, and how could they be constructed? This problem is particularly virulent in using comparative data from other genetic studies, which are already uncritically classed by ethnonyms or the designations of ‘archaeological cultures’. The workshop is not intended to reopen fundamental debates about ‘ethnic interpretation’ of burial evidence, but rather seeks for pragmatic ways to find a consensual language of communication between the disciplines.
Wed, 11.11.2020 | 5:30 p.m.
Presentation of the HistoGenes project at Central European University (CEU)
https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/99559719298?pwd=Zmg0RGVibGNiNS9zOXpZZzZGRWFCQT09
⇒ Poster
Thu, 01.10.2020 | 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Archaeology Workshop no. 1
Programme
