Shifting Sands: Population Dynamics during the Muslim-Christian Transition in 11th-13th Century Algarve Caterina November 14, 2025 – 3 min read Share this post Papers Ancient DNA reveals leprosy and long-distance migration in early medieval Germany The marshland world of Fallward On the wet coastal edge of northwestern Germany, a community built its settlement on an artificial mound rising above the tidal marshes of the Elbe-Weser triangle. The surrounding wetlands offered fertile soil and grazing, but also flooding and danger. The solution was ingenious: raise the By Sven • 4 min read Papers Early Medieval Population History of the Rhineland The Rhineland at the Edge of Empire The Rhineland in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages was a borderland, and borderlands are rarely quiet. For centuries the Roman world shaped life here, building roads, forts, and a frontier along the Rhine. The river was a stage on which soldiers, By Caterina • 7 min read Papers Tracing the spread of Germanic languages using ancient genomics Ancient DNA and the Archaeology of the Dead The story begins not with kings, but with bones on trays and teeth in labelled tubes. Across northern and western Europe, the search for the origins of Germanic speech drew strength from graves, bogs, barrows, and battle deposits — an immense gathering of By Caterina • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup J1a3 At Deersheim in Saxony-Anhalt, one early medieval man has become unexpectedly important for the history of paternal ancestry in post-Roman Europe. The individual catalogued as DRH043, dated to around AD 500, comes from Migration Period Germany, a world usually described in broad labels such as "Germanic," "Roman, By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup Q1b2b On the Upper Irtysh River in eastern Kazakhstan, one Late Bronze Age man has become a small but intriguing signpost in the history of Y-DNA haplogroup Q1b2b. He is known in the ancient DNA record as KKN093, dated to around 1640 BC at Koken. That is not a grand royal By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup C2a1b At Joyeong-dong in Gyeongsan, in southeastern Korea, one ancient man dated to around AD 500 has become an unexpectedly useful signpost for Y-DNA haplogroup C2a1b. He appears in the ancient DNA record as JOY010, from the Three Kingdoms period, when the Korean peninsula was politically divided but intensely connected through By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup O2a1b1a1a1a1e1 At Joyeong-dong in Gyeongsan, in southeastern Korea, one ancient man has become unexpectedly important for tracing a very specific paternal line. The sample known as JOY007, dated to around AD 500, comes from the Three Kingdoms period, when the Korean peninsula was divided among powerful rival states and local communities By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup G2a2a1a2a2c At Polgar Csoszhalom in eastern Hungary, one late Neolithic man, sample I16550, offers a small but striking glimpse into the paternal history of early farming Europe. Dated to around 4760 BC, he belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup G2a2a1a2a2c, a branch nested within the wider G2a line that appears again and By Sven • 5 min read Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I2a1a1a1a2b At Ile Thinic, on the coast near Saint-Pierre-Quiberon in Brittany, one ancient male sample stands out for anyone interested in the paternal line I2a1a1a1a2b. The individual known as I15024, dated to around 1700 BC, places this branch in a very specific archaeological landscape: Bronze Age northwestern France, in a peninsula By Sven • 4 min read
Papers Ancient DNA reveals leprosy and long-distance migration in early medieval Germany The marshland world of Fallward On the wet coastal edge of northwestern Germany, a community built its settlement on an artificial mound rising above the tidal marshes of the Elbe-Weser triangle. The surrounding wetlands offered fertile soil and grazing, but also flooding and danger. The solution was ingenious: raise the By Sven • 4 min read
Papers Early Medieval Population History of the Rhineland The Rhineland at the Edge of Empire The Rhineland in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages was a borderland, and borderlands are rarely quiet. For centuries the Roman world shaped life here, building roads, forts, and a frontier along the Rhine. The river was a stage on which soldiers, By Caterina • 7 min read
Papers Tracing the spread of Germanic languages using ancient genomics Ancient DNA and the Archaeology of the Dead The story begins not with kings, but with bones on trays and teeth in labelled tubes. Across northern and western Europe, the search for the origins of Germanic speech drew strength from graves, bogs, barrows, and battle deposits — an immense gathering of By Caterina • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup J1a3 At Deersheim in Saxony-Anhalt, one early medieval man has become unexpectedly important for the history of paternal ancestry in post-Roman Europe. The individual catalogued as DRH043, dated to around AD 500, comes from Migration Period Germany, a world usually described in broad labels such as "Germanic," "Roman, By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup Q1b2b On the Upper Irtysh River in eastern Kazakhstan, one Late Bronze Age man has become a small but intriguing signpost in the history of Y-DNA haplogroup Q1b2b. He is known in the ancient DNA record as KKN093, dated to around 1640 BC at Koken. That is not a grand royal By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup C2a1b At Joyeong-dong in Gyeongsan, in southeastern Korea, one ancient man dated to around AD 500 has become an unexpectedly useful signpost for Y-DNA haplogroup C2a1b. He appears in the ancient DNA record as JOY010, from the Three Kingdoms period, when the Korean peninsula was politically divided but intensely connected through By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup O2a1b1a1a1a1e1 At Joyeong-dong in Gyeongsan, in southeastern Korea, one ancient man has become unexpectedly important for tracing a very specific paternal line. The sample known as JOY007, dated to around AD 500, comes from the Three Kingdoms period, when the Korean peninsula was divided among powerful rival states and local communities By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup G2a2a1a2a2c At Polgar Csoszhalom in eastern Hungary, one late Neolithic man, sample I16550, offers a small but striking glimpse into the paternal history of early farming Europe. Dated to around 4760 BC, he belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup G2a2a1a2a2c, a branch nested within the wider G2a line that appears again and By Sven • 5 min read
Haplogroups and Noble Lines Haplogroup I2a1a1a1a2b At Ile Thinic, on the coast near Saint-Pierre-Quiberon in Brittany, one ancient male sample stands out for anyone interested in the paternal line I2a1a1a1a2b. The individual known as I15024, dated to around 1700 BC, places this branch in a very specific archaeological landscape: Bronze Age northwestern France, in a peninsula By Sven • 4 min read
