Tracing infectious diseases by analysis of ancient human genomes and skeletal pathology (F04)

• Subject Area: Human Genetics
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 290391021

Project F4 traces infectious diseases over time and evaluates their linkages with prehistoric transfor-mation processes. It combines aDNA analyses of pathogens and human hosts with palaeopathological investigations of skeletal remains, towards developing an integrative model for understanding if and how disease and suffering were triggered or caused by socio-economic change in the past. The hypothesis developed in Phase1 – that diseases served as an accelerator of transformational processes – will be tested in Phase 2 on independent ancient systems and further evaluated as a model for modern-day strategies for coping with infectious diseases.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1266: Human-environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Project Heads: Dr. Katharina Fuchs, since 7/2020; Professor Dr. Ben Krause-Kyora; Professorin Dr. Almut Nebel