Plastered Houses and the Dead: A Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Burial Site at Nahal Yarmuth 38, Central Israel Sven December 07, 2025 – 4 min read Share this post Papers Ancient Iranian mtDNA and skeletal identification Elam in the Lowlands of Khuzestan In southwestern Iran, on the hot plains of Khuzestan, one of the oldest great civilizations of the ancient Near East once thrived: Elam. Though often overshadowed by Mesopotamia, Elam commanded trade routes, labour, and ideas across the Iranian Plateau. Its territory stretched from Khuzestan By Sven • 4 min read Papers Ancient DNA reveals family ties, ancestry, sex, and bone disease in degraded Song Dynasty remains Zhangliu: A Song Dynasty Burial Ground in the Huai River World In the river-shaped landscapes of eastern China, the Zhangliu site opens a vivid window into the Song Dynasty world. Located in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, this burial ground sits in the great meeting zone between north and south By Jamie L • 3 min read Papers Ancient DNA reveals diverse origins at a 7th-century Madrid burial site El Rebollar: A Mountain Church Full of Surprises High in Spain's Sierra de Guadarrama, a seventh-century church at El Boalo served as both house of worship and house of the dead. At first glance it seems a remote, isolated place — yet the burials inside tell a far more By Caterina • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup R1a1a1b1a1 At Niederwunsch in Saxony-Anhalt, one medieval burial has become a small but telling witness to a large historical movement. The individual catalogued as NDW116, dated to about AD 1100 and described as a Western Slav settler, sits at the point where archaeology, migration, and paternal lineage all meet. In this By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup Q1a2a1a At Arkus-Homokbanya in Hungary, two men from the Late Avar period stand out for a very specific reason. Sample ARK-6, dated around AD 750, and sample ARK-36, dated around AD 800, are both associated here with the Y-DNA haplogroup Q1a2a1a. That is immediately interesting because the Avar world in the By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I1a1b1a1b3a At Velim-Velistak on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, two men buried around AD 775 appear in the record under the IDs VEM056 and VEM058. On paper that may look spare, almost frustratingly so: a site name, a date, two identifiers. Yet even this modest cluster is revealing, because both are By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup G2a2b2a1a1b1a1a2b At Sint-Truiden in present-day Belgium, one medieval man stands out precisely because he did not quite fit in. Sample ST1016, dated to around AD 900 and recovered from Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, has been described as an outsider in a growing urban community. That makes him an arresting place to begin for the By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a1c2b2 At Cambridge's St John's Hospital, one medieval man dated to about AD 1209 has become an unexpectedly useful signpost for a very specific paternal line. The individual identified as ATP_PSN_127 belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a1c2b2, placing this branch in a real archaeological setting By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I1a1a At Alken Enge in eastern Jutland, the dead were not buried in the neat, domestic way we often expect from the Roman Iron Age. They were gathered in a wetland landscape and deposited after a violent episode around the early 2nd century AD. One of the men from that grim By Sven • 5 min read
Papers Ancient Iranian mtDNA and skeletal identification Elam in the Lowlands of Khuzestan In southwestern Iran, on the hot plains of Khuzestan, one of the oldest great civilizations of the ancient Near East once thrived: Elam. Though often overshadowed by Mesopotamia, Elam commanded trade routes, labour, and ideas across the Iranian Plateau. Its territory stretched from Khuzestan By Sven • 4 min read
Papers Ancient DNA reveals family ties, ancestry, sex, and bone disease in degraded Song Dynasty remains Zhangliu: A Song Dynasty Burial Ground in the Huai River World In the river-shaped landscapes of eastern China, the Zhangliu site opens a vivid window into the Song Dynasty world. Located in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, this burial ground sits in the great meeting zone between north and south By Jamie L • 3 min read
Papers Ancient DNA reveals diverse origins at a 7th-century Madrid burial site El Rebollar: A Mountain Church Full of Surprises High in Spain's Sierra de Guadarrama, a seventh-century church at El Boalo served as both house of worship and house of the dead. At first glance it seems a remote, isolated place — yet the burials inside tell a far more By Caterina • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup R1a1a1b1a1 At Niederwunsch in Saxony-Anhalt, one medieval burial has become a small but telling witness to a large historical movement. The individual catalogued as NDW116, dated to about AD 1100 and described as a Western Slav settler, sits at the point where archaeology, migration, and paternal lineage all meet. In this By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup Q1a2a1a At Arkus-Homokbanya in Hungary, two men from the Late Avar period stand out for a very specific reason. Sample ARK-6, dated around AD 750, and sample ARK-36, dated around AD 800, are both associated here with the Y-DNA haplogroup Q1a2a1a. That is immediately interesting because the Avar world in the By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I1a1b1a1b3a At Velim-Velistak on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, two men buried around AD 775 appear in the record under the IDs VEM056 and VEM058. On paper that may look spare, almost frustratingly so: a site name, a date, two identifiers. Yet even this modest cluster is revealing, because both are By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup G2a2b2a1a1b1a1a2b At Sint-Truiden in present-day Belgium, one medieval man stands out precisely because he did not quite fit in. Sample ST1016, dated to around AD 900 and recovered from Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, has been described as an outsider in a growing urban community. That makes him an arresting place to begin for the By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a1c2b2 At Cambridge's St John's Hospital, one medieval man dated to about AD 1209 has become an unexpectedly useful signpost for a very specific paternal line. The individual identified as ATP_PSN_127 belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a1c2b2, placing this branch in a real archaeological setting By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I1a1a At Alken Enge in eastern Jutland, the dead were not buried in the neat, domestic way we often expect from the Roman Iron Age. They were gathered in a wetland landscape and deposited after a violent episode around the early 2nd century AD. One of the men from that grim By Sven • 5 min read
