Dr Sam Neil

Escaping the laboratory by climbing to the top of one of Bordeaux's bell towers. Constructed in 1440 by the founder of Bordeaux University, Pey Berland.

Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey

Did Neandertals choose their prey when practicing cannibalism?🍖

Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!

We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.

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Abstract submission is now open for the 1st International Conference on Palaeogenomics!

June 23–26 2026, in Stockholm.

Join researchers from across the field for 4 days and >100 talks (+ poster sessions)!

Submit abstracts here 👉
icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/abstracts/

Deadline: Nov 30th

Amazing presentations at the meeting on Ancient Genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine at the Royal Society today

Genomic evidence for the Holocene codispersal of dogs and humans across Eastern Eurasia As the first domestic species, dogs likely dispersed with different cultural groups during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 73 ancient dog genomes, including 17 ...

🚨 New paper alert 🚨

Our research, published today in Science, reveals remarkable concordance between human and dog genomes through time, highlighting how deeply intertwined our evolutionary histories have been over the past 11,000 years.

🔗 Read the full paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Currently writing up the results of new radiocarbon dating from this amazing Neolithic monument, Le Déhus, on the Channel Islands. With thanks to @isotopesuk.bsky.social and @oxradiocarbon.bsky.social for funding radiocarbon dating.

is back at one of my favourite places in the whole world, The Oxford University Museum of Natural History @morethanadodo.bsky.social

Is all alone early a very quiet radiocarbon lab, freeze drying things..hey, who put the sign in the pie oven...no Frey Bentos in here

Application of microsublimation for sample purification in compound-specific radiocarbon analysis - Progress in Earth and Planetary Science This article presents the development and application of a microsublimation apparatus aimed at improving the purity of ultra-small samples for compound-specific radiocarbon analysis. Accurate radiocar...

Interesting new paper on radiocarbon dating methods: Application of microsublimation for sample purification in compound-specific radiocarbon analysis.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Just to say thanks so much for your efforts in organizing today Kenny along with Seren. It was a really great series of talks and a fascinating day!

Was descent in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe patrilineal or bilateral? | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Many studies have attempted to gain insights into the kinship systems of past human populations using ancient DNA data. Several studies focusing on Neolithic and Bronze Age European sites reported a h...

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Probably posted a preprint version of this before but good to see some formal testing of different hypotheses of descent/residence in prehistoric cemeteries of Europe, rather than just eyeballing the trends.

At the Treasure exhibition, Museum of Liverpool

Optimizing ancient DNA recovery from archaeological plant seeds - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Optimizing ancient DNA recovery from archaeological plant seeds

Optimizing ancient DNA recovery from archaeological plant seeds

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A high-coverage genome from a 200,000-year-old Denisovan Denisovans, an extinct sister group of Neandertals who lived in Eastern Eurasia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, are known only from a handful of skeletal remains and limited genetic data, incl...

A new high-coverage #Denisovan genome, chock-full of fascinating new information. Must-read study by @stephanepeyregne.bsky.social @janetk.bsky.social and colleagues
On @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: 🧪🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

First known fossil hand of the hominin Paranthropus boisei Hand bones from a human relative, found in Kenya, reveal features similar to those of living gorillas, complicating the evolutionary history of hand and tool manipulation.

Hand bones from a human relative, found in Kenya, reveal features similar to those of living gorillas, complicating the evolutionary history of hand and tool manipulation

go.nature.com/4nQn3ff

👋 Hello, Bluesky! We’re Radiocarbon, an international peer-reviewed journal (since 1959) dedicated to advancing radiocarbon research, from calibration and chronology to applications across archaeology, geology, environmental science, and more. We’re glad to be here. #Radiocarbon #Geochronology

🚨SAVE THE DATE for two 14C conferences happening in Santiago, Chile 🇨🇱, next year:

4th 14C & Diet: 6-8 July
3rd Latin American 14C: 8-10 July

Plus, the 11th 14C & Archaeology will be in Brazil just before on 30 June-3 July 🇧🇷

Details for 🇨🇱 below👇 Please share widely!

@fransantanas.bsky.social

The signal and the noise: inherent challenges for isotopic studies in bioarchaeology Isotopic analysis as a method of assessing diet or geographical origin is now ubiquitous in archaeology, to the point where seemingly no project is co…

Useful new paper on use of isotopes in biomolecular archaeology www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Has just emerged from below ground in central Bordeaux looking at some beautifully carved 4th-6th century sarcophagi

Made it from Oxford to Bordeaux... just before the transport chaos started here in France

Busy in the labs working on isotope samples to link these to our palaeogenomic data. Better linking these datasets will help us directly study changes in population diet, mobility and genomics over time.

Promotional illustration for the Royal Society of Chemistry's Sustainable Laboratories Grant 2025. The scene depicts several individuals engaged in various scientific activities in a lab setting, with emphasis on recycling and sustainability. A quote from Martyn Towner about the benefits of the recycling project is also featured.

Your project can create positive change – by helping the environment, your project can also support your own growth and success.

Make your ideal project a reality and share sustainable research practices with your community.

Find out more: rsc.li/sustainable-labs-grant

Polygenic prediction of human complex traits using ancient DNA Ancient DNA has revolutionized our understanding of human history and clarified many aspects of human evolution on a molecular level. In this article,…

Nice piece by @mathiesoniain.bsky.social on polygenic prediction of human complex traits using ancient DNA (h/t @evobioclio.bsky.social ) 🧪🧬
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Modeling the European Neolithic expansion suggests predominant within-group mating and limited cultural transmission - Nature Communications The Neolithic Revolution marked an important shift from foraging to farming in human society. Here, the authors show that in Europe the spread of farming involved mostly within-group mating and limite...

Disagree with this paper, it is too early to tell...very many sites have not been sampled, or had data published yet... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Attending #ESEB2025 has been an amazing experience!

If you are interested in more ancient DNA and museomics, please consider joining us in Stockholm for the first International Conference on Palaeogenomics (June 23-26 2026)!

Follow @palaeogenomics.bsky.social

👉icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

Just to note on this article: systemmatic use of micro-CT scanning is no longer recommended. It has been shown that it causes radiation damage, impacting collagen preservation. This can be significant and
may prevent radiocarbon dating & stable isotope analysis:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Escaped the DNA lab for a day to climb Europe's largest sand dune

Two useful new reviews on ancestry inference in population genetics:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

We have an exciting line-up of speakers already confirmed for our Ancient Genomes meeting in November. If you want to be one of the speakers or present a poster, submit your abstract by 31 July!

genetics.org.uk/events/ancie...