Hannah Moots

Imputation of ancient canid genomes reveals inbreeding history over the past 10,000 years | PNAS The multi-millennia-long history between dogs and humans has placed them at the forefront of archaeological and genomic research. Despite ongoing e...

Our paper in the PNAS Special Feature on 🐕 is out!
We demonstrated the accuracy of imputing ancient canid genomes, looked at inbreeding levels over the past 10,000 years and found genomic regions resistant to ROH which were enriched for immunity and chemosensory genes.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Leopard cats lived commensally with humans in ancient China for over 3,500 years before domestic cats were introduced via Silk Road merchants around 1,400 years ago. Ancient DNA shows that while two small felids once occupied anthropogenic environments, only domestic cats became fully domesticated and globally distributed.

"The late arrival of domestic #cats in China via the Silk Road after 3,500 years of human-leopard cat commensalism" spkl.io/63320AdF6i

He Yu, @joel-alves.bsky.social, @gregerlarson.bsky.social, Shu-Jin Luo & colleagues
#CellGenomics

Cats became our companions way later than you think In true feline style, cats took their time in deciding when and where to join us on the sofa.

When did the #cat stop walking by itself & become one of our favourite companions? It's much later than you think! Lovely couple of 🐱🧬papers out this week to add to our #pet themed posts @gregerlarson.bsky.social @pku1898.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #aDNA #zooarchaeology #cats #miaow

Aerial image of Riddarholmen, a small island part of Gamla Stan, the historical centre of Stockholm.

ICP2026 flyer

LAST CALL ☎️

Abstract submission for #ICP2026 closes on November 30th❗

Don't miss the opportunity to showcase your exciting ancient DNA research next summer 🦴🦣🐕👨‍🔬🧬

Abstract submission and more info here 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

We are looking forward to welcoming you to beautiful Stockholm!

QUARTILES DLA: Oak genetics through time: ancient DNA analysis of sub-fossil oak for woodland management and conservation at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - QUARTILES DLA: Oak genetics through time: ancient DNA analysis of sub-fossil oak for woodland management and conservation at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com

We’re excited to offer a fully-funded PhD position (NERC & BBSRC-funded QUARTILES) focusing on oak conservation and restoration. The project features ancient DNA analysis of archeological oak specimens as a key element of the research. @uoa-archaeology.bsky.social #ancientDNA #conservation

(A) Genomic inbreeding coefficient (FROH) of imputed and modern dogs plotted as a function of time, calculated based on ROH. Imputed samples are colored based on their geographic grouping, while modern samples are colored in gray. A loess regression was applied with each colored shaded area depicting the SE. (B) Total number of ROH segments plotted against total ROH length for the imputed dogs. Colors correspond to age of imputed samples in years before present (ybp)., while modern samples belonging to each dog group are colored in gray. (C) Map of imputed dog samples colored by their inbreeding coefficient (FROH). Samples with FROH values above 0.1 are indicated.

Delighted to see our paper characterising the inbreeding history of dogs and wolves over the past 10,000 years published this week in @pnas.org. Work led by the excellent @katiabou.bsky.social, and co-supervised by me, Laurent Frantz and Fernando Racimo www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Evidence of sheeppox in 17th-19th century France: a multi-disciplinary investigation of a sheep mass mortality assemblage Epizootic outbreaks posed major threats to food security, economic stability, and animal welfare in past communities. While these events and their impacts are well documented in historical records, ve...

Despite my insomnia, I'm very happy to share our preprint: a multi-disciplinary assessment of a sheep mass mortality event from ~18th century France. We report the first ancient sheeppox virus (think smallpox) and the Taenia hydatigena (nasty roundworm) genomes.
#aDNA

Hello @science.org NativeBio has been on the forefront of this conversation from 2019 and even earlier (UW Indigenous grad school members Keolu Fox, Moroni Benally, Chad Uran, Marisa Duarte, Katrina Claw and many more). We've been on @scifri.bsky.social WAMU's 1A. We built the @d4itdr.bsky.social

Human prehistory keeps delivering surprises, here in the shape of wolves. A very fun project to work on 👇

A legacy of genetic entanglement with wolves shapes modern dogs | PNAS Dogs evolved through interactions between people and gray wolves during the Late Pleistocene and have been ubiquitous in human societies ever since...

Our paper is out! Although wolves and dogs can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, hybridization between the two is rare. We found that most dogs today have low but detectable levels of post-domestication wolf ancestry that has shaped their evolution in human environments. tinyurl.com/yt4x4r7n

During the earliest stages of domestication, dogs in archaeological sites would be indistinguishable from wolves.

Unless you find them on a small island where no wolves would survive on their own, eating things wolves normally don’t eat.

Such as here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨 PNAS Special Feature 2 🐕

We used ancient DNA and dietary isotopes to show that landscape modification and the introduction of European dogs impacted dingo populations across Australia.

🔗 Full paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Excited to announce the closing workshop of our multidisciplinary research into the #archaeology of #wine in northern #Adriatic #Italy on Dec 1-2 in Verona! For those interested in participating online, please write anna.nicolussi@univr.it
For a sneak peek, go to: www.archaeoadwine.it 🍇 🍷

$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.

Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.

At today’s plenary of the American Anthropological Association #TheDawnOfEverything was awarded the Staley Prize for ‘outstanding scholarship’ by the School for Advanced Research🙏

It would have meant so much to David Graeber, as it does to me
sarweb.org/awards/j-i-s...

I really enjoyed talking with Rachel Donald on my work documenting the origins and history of the @scientistrebellion.bsky.social movement and where it and the many other collective liberation movements that exist could go moving forwards, under increased reppression conditions we find ourselves in.

OUT NOW!
A Social Archaeology of Kinship in Iberia and Beyond.
edited by Antonio Blanco-González & Eva Alarcón-García

📚 Read online for free or purchase your own volume at www.sidestone.com/books/a-soci...

#archaeogenetics #ancientDNA

YouTube video by Archaeology with Flint Dibble Fall of Rome: Elon Musk’s Crazy Doomsday History

NEW VIDEO! Investigating Elon Musk's very weird claims (based off of no evidence) about the Fall of Rome and birth rates led me down a very strange rabbit hole that shows how his catastrophic view of history informs the decisions he makes

youtu.be/s2fEaglzsR0

Paleogenomics Reveals a Loss of Bovine Lineages in Mid-latitude Asia Over the Last 200,000 Years Abstract. Bovines have a complex yet poorly understood evolutionary history that is characterized by admixture and diversity loss during the Late Pleistoce

Our manuscript on bovine deep-time paleogenomics at Denisova Cave and in the broader mid-latitude Asia is online! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... 🦬🦴🧬

Main findings in the 🧵 below ⬇️

@cpgsthlm.bsky.social @genomebiolevol.bsky.social #aDNA

FIRST LEGO League Archaeology Resources - Dr. Smiti Nathan Resources for FIRST LEGO League teams exploring archaeology. Includes videos, other links, and ways to connect with archaeologists.

Are you participating in the 2025-2026 FIRST® LEGO® League UNEARTHED™? 🏺🧪

Here's my resource page: smitinathan.com/first-lego-l...

It includes:
▶️ Curated #archaeology YouTube videos
▶️ Resources made by archaeologists for #FirstLegoLeague
▶️ Guidance on how to chat with a real archaeologist

Bars of clay that have been fired at various temperatures and under different atmospheric conditions. Ranging in colour from red terracotta to very dark chocolate brown. Along with some Munsell soil colour charts used to record the test results.

Testing clay from the Roman pottery production site at Highgate Wood, North London and using Munsell colour charts to record the results. Same clay, different temperatures and kiln atmosphere. 🏺#Archaeology #AncientBluesky

Volume 9 Issue 4 | Studies in Late Antiquity | University of California Press

And if you’re interested in reading more, this conversation is part of a new special issue on "Paleoscience and the Study of Late Antiquity", which brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on climate, ancient DNA, and pathogen studies online.ucpress.edu/SLA/issue/9/4

I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with colleagues across archaeology, history, and genetics as we discussed what ancient DNA can (and can't) tell us about mobility, identity, and population history in Late Antiquity, and how our fields are working toward deeper collaboration.

YouTube video by Medievalists Human paleogenetics and late antique migration: a cross-discipline discussion

Excited to share that our cross-disciplinary conversation on ancient DNA and mobility is now published in Studies in Late Antiquity doi.org/10.1525/sla.... - and also out as an episode of the Byzantium & Friends podcast youtu.be/PdNeL6ika-k?... 🏺🧬

YouTube video by AaRC AaRCademy workshop: aDNA data processing with Nikolay Oskolkov

youtube.com/watch?v=-nWo...

Met Museum Employees Petition to Create Union

Museum workers at the MET petition for a union! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/a...

Historical genomics of the declining red squirrel in Britain | Aries Dr Anders Bergström, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia Professor Cock van Oosterhout, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Dr Selina Brace…

A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

Want to join the www.codicum.eu project?

3 year PostDoct at SDU (Odense, Denmark) for an Latin expert with palaeographical as well as text and book historical skills.

#Medieval #Manuscript

Fifteen millennia of human mitogenome evolution in Sicily Mitogenomes spanning 15 millennia reveal a genetic discontinuity within Sicily and continuous gene flow from Eurasia and Africa.

I'm thrilled to announce, together with @RajivBoscoloAgostini and @jack-the-villain.bsky.social, that our paper entitled "Fifteen millennia of human mitogenome evolution in Sicily" is out now in Science Advances!

Check it out!
doi.org/10.1126/scia...