Genetics in Archaeology<\/p>\n
s055<\/a><\/p>\n Martin Paul Evison<\/p>\n Developments in molecular genetics continue to be controversial in wider society and much the same can be said for the role of genetics in archaeology. Technological advances have allowed human biological diversity to be measured with increasing resolution, allowing geographical patterns to be discerned at the DNA level. At the same time, ancient DNA can now be recovered from archaeological remains, human and non-human. But have technological developments been accompanied by theoretical sophistication? Does research design and interpretation incorporate anthropological or archaeological knowledge in ways which are realistic or meaningful?<\/p>\n Archaeologists are by now familiar with the flawed doctrines of racial anthropology and its descendants. Both the socio-political context and the research paradigms\u00be in genetics and archaeology\u00be changed drastically with the Second World War and geneticists have contributed considerably to the recognition of racial taxonomy as being scientifically groundless. Nevertheless, the popularity of publications such as The Bell Curve indicate that a fertile ground persists for racial science\u00be or pseudoscience. Media hyperbole can obscure our attempts to understand the issues\u00be as it can distort the value and meaning of scientific discoveries.<\/p>\n Genetic evidence now plays a role in the study of long-term historic processes in all continents. Importantly, genetic evidence is not derived solely from humans. Considerable evidence has been amassed from the study of domesticated animals and plants. How definite are the inferences geneticists draw from their own evidence and how much distortion might result when these interpretations are co-opted in the study of the past?<\/p>\n Interpretations based on the genetic evidence are often seen to conflict with those based on archaeology alone. To some extent this may be due to conflicting theoretical trends reflected in each discipline. Gradients in gene distributions are normally explained as being the result of diffusion or migration. Their interpretation will inevitably conflict with the indigenist posture widely adopted in post-war archaeology, insisting that changes in material culture patterns are derived from internal social developments. Are these differences more apparent than real?<\/p>\n Molecular genetics now allows us to study human variation at the DNA level, reducing the influence of environment to a minimum. This would seem to offer an unparalleled opportunity for an empirically-based understanding of the nature of biological diversity. But is human genome diversity research founded on flawed and outmoded anthropology? Is it possible to study human biological diversity without being forced to make equations of genes, language and culture or assuming that human groups were once primitive isolates?<\/p>\n Ancient DNA potentially offers a means of resolving many archaeological hypotheses based on demographic and gender or kin-related processes. How reliable are the results? Is it rational or ethical to employ DNA results\u00be modern or ancient\u00be in discussions of identity?<\/p>\n The aim of this symposium is to explore and debate these issues. Papers will be presented which critically discuss historical and contemporary uses of genetics in archaeology, debate conflicts between the aims of population genetics and archaeology, illustrate the potential for use of ancient DNA in archaeology and present new models for the integration of genetic evidence into archaeological research. Papers will refer to theoretical and interpretative matters, and to archaeological and historical case studies in Europe and North America.<\/p>\n papers: Genetics in Archaeology s055 Martin Paul Evison Developments in molecular genetics continue to be controversial in wider society and much the same can be said for the role of genetics in archaeology. Technological advances have allowed human biological diversity to be measured with increasing resolution, allowing geographical patterns to be discerned at the DNA level. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAuthor 1 Author 2 Title
\nBrown Sex, Gender and Ancient DNA
\nBrown Genetics and the origins of agriculture
\nMacEachern Races and tribes in Africa: anthropological and biological perspectives
\nPluciennik Genetics, prehistory and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition: problems of resolution and meaning.
\nVikshaaland Ancient DNA and human remains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"