Attendance is possible by Zoom (via registration) or in-person.

In-person attendees are required to wear face masks while in the room.

Presentations will take place in Aaron Burr 219 from 4:30-7:00 PM, with a coffee and treats reception preceding the talk from 4:00-4:30PM in the lobby outside the room.

HistoGenes is an ambitious project funded by the European Research Council to study population movements and community structures in the Carpathian Basin between the fifth and ninth centuries. The project is sequencing ancient DNA from over 100 cemeteries and 6000 individuals and coordinating the genomic data produced with archaeological, isotopic, and historical data in the largest project of its type ever undertaken. During the presentation, Krishna Veeramah and Patrick Geary will present an overview of the genomic and historical framework of the project, and Deven Vyas, Yijie Tian, and István Koncz will present specific examples of how HistoGenes is analyzing specific communities in the region.

4:30: Welcome and Introduction (Janet Kay, Princeton University)

4:40: ”HistoGenes: The Challenge of integrating Historical, Genomic, and Archaeological Data in Early Medieval Europe” (Patrick Geary, IAS)

4:50: ”The Challenge of Generating and evaluating 4000 genomes from the Carpathian Basin” (Krishna Veeramah, Stony Brook University)

5:05: BREAK

5:20: ”How Paleogenomic and Archaeological Data from Multiple Cemeteries can Clarify the Process of Demographic, Social and Cultural Change: The Example of the Little Hungarian Plain.” (István Koncz, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and Yijie Tian, Stony Brook University)

5:50: “From Late Antiquity to the Slavic Middle Ages in modern Slovenia: The Genomic and Archaeological Evidence” (Deven Vyas, Stony Brook University, and István Koncz)

6:20-7:00: Discussion (moderators Helmut Reimitz, Princeton University, and Janet Kay)

*This project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 856453 ERC-2019-SyG)

Co-sponsored by the Princeton University Program in Archaeology and the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study