Papers Proving the Ottonians: Ancient DNA Confirms the Paternal Kinship of Emperors Otto I and Henry II Ottonian Emperors, Cathedrals, and DNA: Bringing the Early Empire Back to Life Ottonian Emperors, Cathedrals, and DNA: Bringing the Early Empire Back to Life This comprehensive study plunges readers into the political heart of 10th and early 11th-century Europe, following the bones of two of its most important rulers: Emperor By Sven • 6 min read
Papers Modern Human Expansion 300,000 Years Ago as a Driver of Neandertal Origins By Sara V • 6 min read
Papers The “Beachy Head Woman”: Ancient DNA Shows a Local Romano-Briton Beachy Head Woman: A Romano-British Life Revealed Beachy Head Woman: A Romano-British Life Revealed Through Modern Science Introduction: From Basement Box to Scientific Discovery In 2012, a forgotten skeleton emerged from a dusty box in Eastbourne Town Hall, bearing only a simple label: "Beachy Head (1959)". This discovery By Sara V • 6 min read
Papers Kinship and Co‑Burial in Neolithic Sweden Genetic Kinship and Neolithic Co-burial Rituals on Gotland Genetic Kinship Shaping Neolithic Co-burial Rituals on Gotland This comprehensive study takes readers to Ajvide on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, one of Stone Age Europe's largest and best-preserved hunter-gatherer cemeteries. Here, people of the Pitted Ware By Sven • 5 min read
Papers Late Byzantine Burials and Sacred Memory at St Isidore’s Basilica, Chios Byzantine Monumental Architecture and the Deep Stratigraphy of St Isidore, Chios Byzantine Monumental Architecture and the Deep Stratigraphy of St Isidore, Chios The sacred landscape of the eastern Aegean reveals one of its most compelling stories through the Basilica of St Isidore at Chios, where layers of stone, mosaic, and By Caterina • 7 min read
Papers Mantiot Greeks - A Possible Spartan-descendant Identity? Deep Maniot Y‑Chromosome Lineages and Their Ancient Mediterranean Connections Deep Maniot Y‑Chromosome Lineages and Their Ancient Mediterranean Connections This comprehensive study takes readers deep into the rugged spine of the Mani peninsula, revealing how the Y‑chromosomes of its men carry traceable echoes of Bronze Age warriors, Roman By Sven • 8 min read
Papers Genetic Diversity in the Late Iron Age Goths of the Masłomęcz Group Gothic Cosmopolitanism and Long-Range Mobility beyond the Roman Frontier Gothic Cosmopolitanism and Long-Range Mobility beyond the Roman Frontier This comprehensive study transports readers to the eastern fringes of the Roman world, into the Hrubieszów Basin of what is now eastern Poland, where an astonishingly rich Goth-associated community – the Masłomęcz group By Caterina • 6 min read
Papers The Grave that Refused to Die - Neolithic Northern France The Bury Gallery Grave: A Monument That Refused to Stay Still The Bury Gallery Grave: A Monument That Refused to Stay Still Introduction: A Hidden Giant in a Garden The Bury gallery grave in northern France represents far more than a simple stone tomb. This remarkable monument underwent continuous transformation By Caterina • 6 min read
Papers Erik the Red and the First Viking Settlers of Greenland Erik the Red and Norse Greenland: From Sagas to Archaeological Evidence Norse Greenland: From Sagas to Archaeological Evidence Erik the Red in Exile: From Outlaw to Greenland's First Viking Leader The story follows Erik the Red as he transforms disgrace into opportunity. Cast out of Iceland in 982 By Sven • 8 min read
Papers Medieval DNA and Isotope Evidence for the Local Origins of Berlin’s First Townspeople Medieval Berlin: Archaeological and Genetic Evidence from St. Peter's Churchyard Introduction: Uncovering Berlin's Medieval Origins Through Ancient DNA and Archaeological Evidence The origins of Berlin emerge not from dusty chronicles or royal charters, but from thousands of graves discovered beneath the bustling streets of modern central By Caterina • 10 min read
Papers Bell Beaker–Driven Population Turnover in the Rhine–Meuse Region Hunter-Gatherer Continuity and Mixed Lifeways in the Rhine–Meuse Wetlands From Mesolithic Foragers to Bell Beaker Pioneers Introduction: A Waterlogged World That Defied Convention The Rhine–Meuse region presents one of European prehistory's most fascinating stories of cultural and genetic continuity. This waterlogged landscape of rivers, peat bogs, By Sven • 6 min read
Papers Tracing Leonardo: DNA Signals from da Vinci–Linked Artifacts Biological Signatures on Leonardo-Linked Objects Biological Signatures on Leonardo-Linked Objects: A Comprehensive Analysis of Renaissance DNA This comprehensive study explores how traces of life – from plants and animals to microbes and humans – still cling to Renaissance drawings and centuries-old letters. By taking the gentlest possible swabs from the surfaces of By Caterina • 5 min read
Papers Kinship and long-distance genetic networks in Early Bronze Age Lower Austria Early Bronze Age Social Structure & Kinship in Lower Austria Early Bronze Age Social Structure & Kinship in Lower Austria The article takes the reader into the farmsteads and graveyards of Early Bronze Age Lower Austria, north and south of the Danube, to explore how people lived, married, moved and By Sven • 10 min read
Papers Huns, Goths and the Turbulent World Behind the Tyniec Cemetery - Southwest Poland The article drops the reader straight into one of the most dramatic episodes in late antiquity: the Migration Period in Central Europe, when the arrival of the Huns from Central Asia set whole peoples in motion and reshaped the map from the Black Sea to the Rhine. Against this sweeping By Jamie L • 8 min read
Papers Unravelling Columbus’ Lineage: Forensic SNP Sequencing Identifies 17th–18th-Century Descendants The Hidden Crypt of Columbus' Descendants in Gelves The Hidden Crypt of Columbus' Descendants Beneath the Church Floor: A Sealed Family Pantheon Deep beneath the church of Santa MarĂa de Gracia in Gelves, near Seville, lies a family crypt that for centuries remained sealed by ecclesiastical authority. This By Caterina • 6 min read
Papers Plague, Farmers, and Foragers: Ancient DNA Reveals Interaction and Disease Among Neolithic Gotlanders Neolithic Farmers and Foragers on Gotland Neolithic Farmers and Foragers on Gotland: Two Worlds on One Island The windswept limestone island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea witnessed an extraordinary coexistence during the Middle Neolithic period, where two fundamentally different ways of life shared the same landscape for more than By Sven • 4 min read
Papers Plastered Houses and the Dead: A Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Burial Site at Nahal Yarmuth 38, Central Israel By Sven • 4 min read
Papers DNA reveals 1,500 Years of Chono Population History in Chilean Patagonia By Caterina • 4 min read
Papers Ancient Sacrifice in Neolithic Shimao, Northern China The Genetic History of Shimao: Ancient DNA Reveals Continuity and Contact on China's Northern Frontier Ancient DNA Reveals Continuity and Contact on China's Northern Frontier Origins and Genetic Continuity: From Yangshao Villages to Shimao's Stone City The genetic story of Shimao traces back more By Sven • 5 min read
Papers Roman Siege Trophy: The Decapitated Cantabrian Defender from La Loma By Caterina • 4 min read
Papers Hanging Coffins, and the Bo People: Tracing a Cliffside Burial Tradition Across Southern China and Southeast Asia By Caterina • 3 min read
Papers Tracing 15 Millennia of Maternal Heritage: Mitochondrial DNA Reveals Sicily’s Genetic Continuity from the Paleolithic to the Present Mitogenome Evolution in Sicily: 15,000 Years of Genetic History Mitogenome Evolution in Sicily: 15,000 Years of Genetic History The comprehensive study by Tommasi et al. offers an extraordinary journey into the heart of Sicily's genetic past, exploring a magnificent mosaic of cultures that converged on this By Sara V • 2 min read
