The Curl Lecture 2023

Dr Maxime Brami, Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

Migration and the Diffusion of Culture: A Reappraisal

Tuesday 18 October 2022, at 5.30pm (approximately) in the Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL and on Zoom.

The lecture will be preceded by the RAI’s AGM.

Abstract:

Archaeology has long looked to other disciplines to generate new ideas. In recent years, the dominance of archaeology over interpretations of prehistory has been challenged by exciting new ancient DNA studies that claim to show wholesale population replacements in prehistoric Europe associated with new cultural horizons. Such broad-based interpretations, often reported in sensationalist and arguably simplistic terms, are nonetheless both valid and popular. How then do we locate them in relation to pre-existing, often long-held archaeological models? Using examples from my own research, I examine how archaeology and ancient DNA can be used together to renew interpretations of prehistory. ‘Folk migrations’ of the type detected by genetics today almost certainly triggered the widespread diffusion of Neolithic practices in Europe, long associated with sedentism and the development of agriculture. Recent archaeogenetic research into the populations of the famous site of Lepenski Vir in Serbia suggests the presence of such migrant farmers, unsettling long-held interpretations of the site as Mesolithic. Without returning to some of its inter-war excesses, notably the hyper-diffusionist model of culture change,  the evidence from genetics suggests archaeologists should once again revisit the role of migration in interpretations of our deep human past.

If you are attending in person please book your place here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/agm-and-curl-lecture-tickets-410564388137

If you are attending online please book your place here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YVbjGeLETPeT5hIbA0J4Vg

Location: Brockway Room
Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
London
WC1R 4RL