Dr George Foody will explore current methods of investigation in ancient DNA and the insights that such analysis can provide.

About this event
DNA contains the code for life and can reveal much about the species, sex, and ancestry of an individual. Ancient DNA, those from archaeological samples, can allow archaeologists to directly test archaeological hypotheses. However, ancient DNA is often degraded, fragmentary and at risk of contamination. This lecture will present the methods currently employed by archaeogeneticists to analyse ancient DNA and demonstrate the potential outcomes

Presenter biography

Dr George Foody, studied BSc in Archaeology at Cardiff University, MSc in Bioarchaeology at University of York and a PhD in Archaeogenetics at the University of Huddersfield. His research has focussed on archaeological science including isotopic analysis, ZooMS and most significanltly ancient DNA. George has been involved in several ancient DNA projects from North America to Europe to the Pacific. Within Britain George has analysed samples from archaeological sites from the Neolithic to the Early Medieval periods. Most recently George has been a postdoc at the University of Huddersfield investigating population movement in Oceania using modern human genomes.