Archaeogenetics, a term coined by
Colin Renfrew, refers to the application of the techniques of molecular
population genetics to the study of the
human past. This can involve:
- the analysis of DNA from modern populations (including humans and domestic plant and animal species) in order to study human past and the genetic legacy of human interaction with the biosphere; and
- the application of statistical methods developed by molecular geneticists to archaeological data.
The topic has its origins in the study of
human blood groups and the realisation that this classical
genetic marker provides information about the relationships between
linguistic and
ethnic groupings. Early work in this field included that of
Ludwik and
Hanka Hirszfeld,
William Boyd and
Arthur Mourant. From the 1960s onwards,
Luca Cavalli-Sforza used classical genetic markers to examine the
prehistoric population of
Europe, culminating in the publication of
The History and Geography of Human Genes in 1994.
Since then, the genetic history of all of our major domestic plants (e.g., wheat, rice, maize) and animals (e.g., cattle, goats, pigs, horses) has been analysed. Models for the timing and
biogeography of their domestication and subsequent husbandry have been put forward, mainly based on
mitochondrial DNA variation, though other markers are currently being analysed to supplement the genetic narrative (e.g., the
Y chromosome for describing the history of the male
lineage).
The same expression was also used by Antonio Amorim (1999) and defined as: getting and interpreting [genetic] evidence of human history. A similar concept (even in a more ambitious form, as it included the recreation of inferred extinct states) has been developed in pre-DNA era by Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl (1963).
See also
