Harald Ringbauer

Fascinating! The genetic evidence actually also points to later inter-island contacts:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Was Rapa Nui less isolated than thought? ⏬️
There is also genetic evidence of late inter-island contacts: When re-modelling the Ioannidis et al 2020 split dates with a corrected model we show that their genetic "settlement" dates actually reflect later movements www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#SMBE2025 Symposium 27: Population genetics through time session B

🔗 smbe2025.scimeeting.cn/en/web/program/25070

‘Dragon Man’ skull belongs to mysterious human relative At long last, scientists have a nearly complete cranium from hominins known as Denisovans

At long last, scientists have a nearly complete cranium from hominins known as Denisovans. scim.ag/4e7QdT4

Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) in University of East Anglia | UEA View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences Senior Research A...

A 4-year postdoc position in population genomics is available in my group at the University of East Anglia, to work on a project sequencing a thousand fox genomes across rural and urban environments in the UK.

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...

🧵1/n ✨🔮✨ Meet (y)our instructors of this year's #HAAMsummerschool 👇 #aDNA #course #humanpopgen

Population-scale inheritance analysis of 858,635 individuals reveals North Sea migration from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution The North Sea's historical migrations have impacted the genetic structure of its neighbouring populations. We analysed haplotype sharing among 858,635 modern individuals from Denmark and Britain to in...

We have updated our preprint about 850,000 person UK-Danish haplotype sharing - sheding light on the rich history each person carries with them in their DNA and comparing this to historical records. Xiaolei Zhang postdoc in my group led this work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?

From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:

• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)

More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Now published in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Clothing—not agriculture—helped spread a tick disease 5000 years ago New study of a pathogen’s Bronze Age spread challenges longstanding links between disease and early agriculture

Scientists used to think diseases that jump from animals to people really took off when people started domesticating cattle, sheep and goats 11,000 years ago. A new look at ancient bacterial DNA in @science.org by @poojaswali.bsky.social and colleagues suggests the pivotal moment came much later.

Discover our results of the largest ancient DNA study ever conducted on a single burial site: 400 skeletons from the Belgian city Sint-Truiden (8th–18th century). A unique glimpse into 1000 years of genetic history. (1/9) @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

Ancient DNA poses puzzle of why Phoenicians spread culture but not their genes Nature - Phoenician civilization thrived across the Mediterranean for more than 1,000 years.

This ancient Middle Eastern civilization that developed an early alphabet spread its culture far and wide — but not its DNA
https://go.nature.com/3Rx0f63

Yeah, the North America parallel came to our mind too! It's a great example of culture&language being not tied to one's genetic ancestry.

Thanks @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social 🙏

Initially, we had more Sicilian outliers genetically from the Eastern Mediterranean, but C14 dating always put them to Roman times (see PCA above - a interesting substory).

Seeing the Punic cline "emerge" was quite exciting!

Indeed, people of cental Mediterranean genetic origin adopted Levantine Phoenician culture & language. ✅️

As we lack aDNA from very early periods of Punic sites (when cremation dominated - which destroys DNA), we can only speculate on the exact process. My own bet is ongoing dynamic integration.

Marseilles was a Greek polis. 🏺

Our article focuses on aDNA from Punic sites in the Mediterranean (which, well, happen to have many people with Aegean-like ancestry too :)).

Studying aDNA from Greek colonies/polis would be important future aDNA work!

Phoenician-Punic civilization: Their #culture spread across the #Mediterranean mainly by a dynamic process of cultural transmission & assimilation. New study by @hringbauer.bsky.social, Ilan Gronau, David Reich & colleagues in @nature.com. #aDNA tinyurl.com/32j6wrjk & www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Most Phoenicians did not come from the land of Canaan, challenging Biblical assumptions The famed culture spread across the ancient world, but its people did not

The Phoenicians used mastery of the seas to spread their culture across the pre-Roman Mediterranean - but a new study of ancient DNA by @hringbauer.bsky.social & colleagues shows mass migration wasn't part of the package: www.science.org/content/arti... @science.org

Thanks to a international interdisciplinary team behind this work! 🙏

A special shout-out to Ilan Gronau for his tireless work and the countless intriguing calls we had throughout.

And of course to my Postdoc supervisor, David Reich and his lab, who enabled this fascinating aDNA work! (4/4)

We find diverse ancestry in Punic sites 600-200 BCE - with a main component of Greek-Sicilian-like ancestry. Also North African ancestry was widespread across Punic sites on a narrow admixture cline - but remains a minority component (including in Carthage). (3/4)

We could generate genome-wide data of >100 human remains from prominent Punic necropolis in Iberia, Tunisia, Sicily, and the islands of Ibiza and Sardinia. That includes important urban centers, such as the former Phoenician colony Carthage itself. (2/4)

Check out our ancient DNA paper on the maritime Punic civilization! 🦴🧬🌊

We find that their Levantine Phoenician cultural ancestors contributed surprisingly little ancestry to Punic sites in the central and western Mediterranean! (1/4)

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

#aDNA #PopGen #Punic #Phoenician

Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage - Nature Pastoralism spread through cultural diffusion into the Green Sahara, where an isolated, distinct North African ancestry persisted.

So excited to see this paper from @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & team using our Twist aDNA panel: “Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage.”

Congratulations to the authors! 🧬

@twistbioscience.com

The Return of the Dire Wolf Colossal Biosciences has genetically engineered the first dire wolf to live in over 10,000 years. Here's what that means for other extinct species.

Colossal is back with their totally BS claims. They reverse engineered snps into 14 GENES and claim they changed a grey wolf into a dire wolf. 1/n
time.com/7274542/colo...

Skeletons from ‘green Sahara’ offer genetic peek at a lost human population Ancient DNA sheds light on a fleeting, lush interlude of North African prehistory

For 5,000 years, the Sahara was dotted with lakes and crisscrossed by rivers, populated by giraffes, hippos, elephants, fish – and people. A new study from @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social geneticist @nadasalem.bsky.social and colleagues reveals where they came from. @science.org

A great thread by the Green Sahara aDNA study's lead author @nadasalem.bsky.social ⬇️

Alte Genome aus der Grünen Sahara entschlüsselt Neue Studie enthüllt eine lange isolierte nordafrikanische Abstammungslinie aus der Zentralsahara während der African Humid Period vor mehr als 7.000 Jahren

Alte #Genome aus der Grünen #Sahara entschlüsselt. Intl. Team um @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & Johannes Krause enthüllt eine lange isolierte nordafrikanische Abstammungslinie aus der Zentralsahara während der African Humid Period vor über 7.000 Jahren. www.mpg.de/24410386/032...

Ancient genomes from the Green #Sahara. Study led by @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & Johannes Krause reveals a long-isolated North African human lineage in the Central Sahara during the African Humid Period over 7,000 years ago. tinyurl.com/43maxc7k & www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A fantastic international team is behind this work, including from @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.

Many thanks to everyone; in particular to the lead author @nadasalem.bsky.social who truly drove all this analysis and @arevsumer.bsky.social 's crucial contributions. 🙏
(7/7)

Finally, we detect only modest amounts of parental relatedness (measured by so-called ROH). We fit an effective size Ne~1,000. That is a considerable recent mating pool, not a crashing population!
Notably, the ROH also allowed us to quantify a lack of contaminating DNA by other humans. (6/7)