# Video Presentations ## The Origins and Early Migrations of the Slavs Tuesday, November 11, 2025 A new stage in a debate that has gone on for 200 years about the largest linguistic Europe-- European population today, the Slavs. Who were they? Where did they come from? This has nourished a lot of conversation, as a polite word for it. A lot of research, some of it less conclusive than others. Scholarly opinion has diverged widely over the last 200 years and up until the present day. **Speakers:** [Joscha Gretzinger](https://www.eva.mpg.de/archaeogenetics/staff/) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Zuzana Hofmanová](https://www.eva.mpg.de/archaeogenetics/staff/zuzana-hofmanova/) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology **Commentators:** [Serhii Plokhii](https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/serhii-plokhii) Department of History, Harvard University [Jakub Kabala](https://www.davidson.edu/people/jakub-kabala) History and Film, Media, and Digital Studies, Davidson College ## West African Connections with Anglo-Saxon England November 6th, 2025 Archaeogenetics, the study of ancient DNA, can reveal powerful insights into kinship and the movement of individuals in (pre)history. Science of the Human Past brought together scientists from the Max Planck Institute to report on the identification of two individuals with genetic profiles consistent with recent sub-Saharan African ancestry, both of whom were buried in early-medieval cemeteries in southern Britain. Focusing primarily on a sub-adult female from Updown in Kent, the authors and commenters explore the societal and cultural contexts in which these individuals lived and died, and the widening geographic links indicated by their presence, pointing back to the Byzantine reconquest of North Africa in AD 533–534. Our system experienced some issues during the program, so please forgive any shortcomings in the audio and video. **Speakers:** [**Joscha Gretzinger**](https://www.eva.mpg.de/archaeogenetics/staff/) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [**John Hines**](https://https%20//profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/emeritus/hines) School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University **Comments by:** [**Orlando Patterson**](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/orlando-patterson) Department of Sociology, Harvard University [**Emmanuel K. Akyeampong**](https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/people/emmanuel-k-akyeampong) African and African American Studies, Harvard University ## Breakthrough: Ancient DNA illuminates malaria’s impact across human history November 20th, 2024 MHAAM researcher Megan Michel has published a path-breaking study ([Megan Michel et al. 2024 *Nature*](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nature.com_articles_s41586-2D024-2D07546-2D2&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=UubCS4LKdBfx1YT9qyfjgKF93u2unBhEIUbN4dj52ss&m=n_TX1VMIG8sFr_VTRAphoUX8xtxmX70yuHfzZIfhl3rVGG1WGFpfEW10VneMk91P&s=fk0T5fceB7RJoaJZWnc3vAWnls9qTvZ_f9AhgvKb14A&e=) ) proving that the aDNA of malaria can be recovered, and putting down the first robust markers for a future comprehensive map of the endemicity of various forms of malaria over time and space. aDNA now shows that it was present in prehistoric Germany, Spain and Russia, and likely affected large stretches of Europe by ca. 3000 BC. Speakers: Megan Michel, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard Dyann F. Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Kyler Harper, G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty; Professor of Classics and Letters at Oklahoma University Edward T. Ryan, Director, Global Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Christina Warinner, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology Program Director; Department of Anthropology, Harvard University Michael McCormick, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University; Chair of Science of the Human Past; Max Planck – Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM). ## Migrations, Mediterranean to Slavic: Ancient DNA reveals the Roman Empire’s cosmopolitan Danube frontier from Domitian to the Slavs April 16, 2024 Attendees learned how the humanities are using biomolecules, archaeology and history to discover a dramatic new vision of the Roman Empire and its enduring impact. Stunning new ancient DNA evidence from the SoHP/MHAAM research team revealed the Roman Empire’s cosmopolitan society on the Danube Balkans frontier down to the Slavic migration. **Speakers:** **Kyle Harper**, G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty and Professor of Classics and Letters, University of Oklahoma **Michael McCormick**, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University; Chair, SoHP; Director at Harvard, MHAAM **Iñigo Olalde,** Ikerbasque Research Fellow, BIOMICS research group, University of Basque Country **David Reich**, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University *With comments provided by*: **Margaret M. Andrews,** Assistant Professor of Classics, Harvard University; **Victoria Moses*****,*** Getty Postdoctoral Fellow, MHAAM, Harvard University; **Solenn Troadec**, Lounsbery Postdoctoral Fellow, MHAAM, Harvard University. ## Ancient DNA & U.S. History: The Genetic Legacy of African Americans from Catoctin Furnace February 7, 2024 The Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard sponsored a discussion about recent work in U.S. History from Prof. David Reich’s lab that deploys ancient DNA and Big Data to discover new genomic insights into the life stories of 27 enslaved African American Ironmakers at Catoctin Furnace MD, 1774-1850. Senior author David Reich and lead author Dr. Éadaoin Harney briefly recapitulated their findings and eminent experts from the Harvard community offered brief comments from their different disciplinary perspectives. **Speakers:** **Éadaoin Harney,** Population Genetics Research and Development, 23andMe; Lecturer, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University **David Reich,** Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University **Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,** Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University **Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof,** Professor of History, Harvard University **Jason Ur,** Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology and Ethnology, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; Project Director, Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey, Kurdistan Region of Iraq **Michael McCormick,** Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University; Chair, SoHP; Director at Harvard, MHAAM **This event is generously co-sponsored at Harvard by:** Department of African and African American Studies, Department of History, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Standing Committee on Archaeology ## How Rome Became Byzantium: New Light from DNA, Ice Cores, and Harvard’s Science of the Human Past May 4, 2023 Historians and archaeologists have long debated the processes that ended the ancient world and gave rise to the civilizations of Byzantium, the medieval West, and Islam. The advances of archaeology are delivering ever more material pieces of the past that are suitable for expanding scientific toolkits, featuring ancient DNA, ice cores, and digital humanities. Come learn how—from senior faculty members to freshmen—historians, archaeologists, geneticists, biomolecular archaeologists, and computer and climate scientists at Harvard University are working together, and in concert with our American and international partners, to expand what we know about the fall of Rome and the origins of Byzantium, as science, archaeology, and history combine to begin a new day in the discovery of ancient and medieval civilization. Speaker: Michael McCormick, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History at Harvard; Chair, Science of the Human Past Presented by M. H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens ## Family, Foods, and Health in Bronze Age Greece: New Light from the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center November 14, 2022 How was life in the Mycenaean World? Whom did they marry, what did they eat and what did they suffer from? For a long time, these questions were almost impossible to answer. Now, archaeoscience has revolutionized our understanding about the past – including, robustly, for the Bronze Age Mediterranean world with its limited written record. Please join SoHP and MHAAM for a special presentation by Philipp Stockhammer, Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich) and Deputy Director, Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM). Prof. Stockhammer will present the latest published and unpublished insights into ancient Aegean food and family relations as well as the oldest infectious diseases ever traced scientifically in the Aegean. ## Approches (bio)archéologiques: la maladie et la mort dans la France du haut Moyen-Âge (Bio)archaeological approaches to disease and death in early medieval France June 24, 2022 **Speakers and Discussants:** Philippe Blanchard, Archéologue, Ingénieur chargé de Recherche Inrap/UMR 5199 PACEA Isabelle Catteddu, Ingénieure Chargée de Recherche à l'Inrap Grand Ouest, Archéologue Spécialiste du premier Moyen Age rural, UMR 6566 CReAAH Valérie Delattre, Archéo-anthropologue Inrap, UMR 6298 ARTeHIS -Université de Bourgogne Michael McCormick, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University; Chair, Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP); Director at Harvard, Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM). Claude Raynaud, Directeur de recherches, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, UMR 5140 ASM, LabEx Solenn Troadec, Postdoctoral Fellow, Initiative for the Science of the Human Past, Harvard University Marie-Cécile Truc, Responsable d’opération et étude du petit mobilier haut Moyen Âge - Moyen Âge, Ingénieure de recherche Inrap, UMR 6273 CRAHAM Université de Caen Sponsored by the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM) and the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP), with the support of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, fostering French-American cooperation in science and technology, and the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard. ## Post-Pandemic Update: What has the Science of the Human Past discovered lately? May 12, 2022 **Participants:** Margaret Andrews - *Department of Classics, Michael Isakov - Departments of Mathematics/Statistics*; Michael McCormick - *Department of History, Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Archaeoscience, Science of the Human Past at Harvard*; Alexander More - *Science of the Human Past at Harvard*; Gabriel Pizzorno - *Department of History*; Daniel Lord Smail - *Department of History*; Solenn Troadec - *Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Archaeoscience*; David Reich - *Department of Human Evolutionary Biology and Genetics, HMS*; Jason Ur - *Department of Anthropology/Archaeology*; Christina Warinner - *Department of Anthropology, Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Archaeoscience*. ## Pandemic-related Lectures [Pandemic-related Lectures](/science-human-past-harvard-pandemics-lectures-0 "Science of the Human Past at Harvard - Pandemics Lectures") ![hi](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/shp/files/pandemics_header_01.jpg?itok=fQXVyIGY) ## SoHP international collaboration boosts innovative scientific discoveries at Reccopolis December 7, 2020 An SoHP international collaboration, boosting innovative scientific discoveries about the origins of medieval Spain. This project is a collaboration between Universidad de Alcalá, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, the German Institute of Archaeology and the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard. ## From Homer To History: Recent Results from Bronze Age Investigations November 1, 2019 German and U.S. team members from the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM) presented some of their most remarkable discoveries from archaeoscience and ancient genetics in a day-long symposium at Harvard University. For more, please see the photos and videos linked here. **Introduction by Prof. Michael McCormick** Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University, Chair, Steering Committee, Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, Co-Director, MHAAM ## Recent advances and publications in the laboratory of Prof. David Reich Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Deputy Director of MHAAM ## Recent research on gene flow in Philistine Ashkelon by Michal Feldman (MHAAM; Archaeogenetics, MPI-SHH) ## From Homer to History November 1st, 2019 **Joint SoHP/MHAAM presentation with concluding remarks by:** Prof. Eszter Bánffy, Director of the Romano-Germanic Commission, German Archaeological Institute Prof. Michael McCormick, Co-director, MHAAM, Chair of the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University *MHAAM is made possible with the support of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP); the President of the Max Planck Society; the Goelet-Berkowitz Fund to support the Science of the Human Past; the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany; the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP); the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University; and individual contributors to SoHP.* ## Marriage, Mobility, & Households in Bronze Age Germany: Integrating Ancient DNA, Isotopes & Archaeology October 15, 2019 **Dr. Alissa Mittnik,** Department of Genetics, Reich Lab, Harvard Medical School Dr. Mittnik spoke on her remarkable research showing the power of traditional archaeological and newer archaeoscientific methods to illuminate life in Bronze Age Germany. Professor Matthew Liebmann (Archaeology/Anthropology) will comment.​ *Co-sponsored by The Standing Committee on Archaeology at Harvard University and the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean.* ## SoHP Symposium November 14, 2018 **Climate, Pollution, & Economic Growth in Human History:** **New Results from the Historical Ice Core Project** **"From Roman Gold to Merovingian 'Pale Gold,' to Medieval Silver"** **Michael McCormick,** Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Harvard University Chair, Steering Committee, Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard *with* **Christopher Loveluck,** Professor of Medieval Archaeology, University of Nottingham *Event co-sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP) and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine (CCI). Project supported by Arcadia: a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.* Embed ## SoHP Workshop November 14, 2018 **Climate, Pollution, & Economic Growth in Human History:** ***New Results from the Historical Ice Core Project*** **"Extending the Climate Record into the Pre-Instrumental Era, Decades to Millennia"** **Paul A. Mayewski,** Director of the Climate Change Institute, and Distinguished Professor, University of Maine *Event co-sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP) and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine (CCI). Project supported by Arcadia: a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.* Embed ## SoHP Workshop November 14, 2018 **Climate, Pollution, & Economic Growth in Human History:** ***New Results from the Historical Ice Core Project*** **"Tephra Evidence of the 536AD Volcanic Eruption"** **Andrei V. Kurbatov,** Associate Professor, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine *Event co-sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP) and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine (CCI). Project supported by Arcadia: a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.* Embed ## MHAAM Lecture April 11, 2018 **"'Death by Contact: Ancient Pathogen Genomes from Epidemics in Early Mexico"** **Johannes Krause,** Director, Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Co-Director, MHAAM *Event sponsored by the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM); the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, and the Standing Committee on Archaeology, Harvard University.* Embed ## SoHP Lecture Series: What's New in the Fall of the Roman Empire February 15, 2018 **"'The Archaeology of Poverty: How poor were Roman peasants? Did they get poorer?"** **Kimberly D. Bowes,** Associate Professor of Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, Department of the Classics, Department of History.* Embed ## SoHP Lecture Series: What's New in the Fall of the Roman Empire November 16, 2017 **"'An Early Islamic Agricultural Revolution?' New light on the transformation of agricultural and irrigation technologies in Late Roman and Islamic Near East"** **Gideon Avni**, Head of the Archaeological Division, Israel Antiquities Authority; Lecturer, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, Department of the Classics, Department of History.* Embed ## TEDxHarvard College October 14, 2017 **"Science and the Future of the Human Past"** **Prof. Michael McCormick**, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History Chair, Science of the Human Past *Event sponsored by* [*TEDxHarvard College*](http://www.tedxharvard.org/) Embed ## MHAAM Inaugural Workshop October 10, 2017 *MHAAM is made possible with the support of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP); the President of the Max Planck Society; the Goelet-Berkowitz Fund to support the Science of the Human Past; the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany; the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP); the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University; and individual contributors to SoHP.* ## SoHP Radiocarbon Workshop February 2, 2017 **"Solar Storms, Tree Rings and Astrochronology: New Radiocarbon Research from Oxford"** **Dr. Michael Dee**, Centre for Isotope Research, University of Groningen *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard.* ## MHAAM Workshop Introduction February 17, 2017 **Mark C. Elliot,** Vice Provost for International Affairs and Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History, Harvard University **Michael McCormick,** Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History; Director at Harvard, MHAAM; Chair, Initiative for the Science of the Human Past, Harvard Univeristy **Malcolm Wiener,** The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) *Event sponsored by the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean.* Embed ## SoHP Lecture Series: What's New in the Fall of the Roman Empire February 16, 2017 **"The Genetic History of Plague: From the Stone Age to the 18th Century via the Roman Empire"** **Johannes Krause**, Director, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, Department of the Classics, Department of History.* Embed ## SoHP Lecture Series: What's New in the Fall of the Roman Empire October 20, 2016 **Nature Did It: Romans, Ecology and the Global History of Infectious Disease"** **Kyle Harper**, Professor of Classics and Letters, Senior Vice President and Provost, University of Oklahoma *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard.* Embed ## "Contingency, Chance and Determinism in Deep History" October 11, 2016 **Douglas H. Erwin**, Curator of Paleozoic Invertebrates, Smithsonian Institution *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, and the Departments of History, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Philosophy at Harvard University.* *Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, and the Departments of History, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Philosophy at Harvard University.* ## "Australian History in Deep Time" September 28, 2016 **David Christian**, Macquarie University Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard University, the Australian Studies Committee and the Departments of Anthropology and History at Harvard University, The Australian Centre for Indigenous History, and Australian National University. ## "Radiocarbon, Statistics and Archaeology: Building a scientific chronological framework for Early Anglo-Saxon England and its implications." December 7, 2015 **John Hines**, Professor of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology & Old English, Cardiff University Event sponsored by the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard and the Medieval History Workshop in the Department of History, Harvard University. ## "2,000 Years of European Climate: First Results from the SoHP Historical Ice Core Project" November 11, 2015 For Photos, [Link](http://sohp.fas.harvard.edu/news/2000-years-european-climate-first-results-sohp-historical-ice-core-project) to event page **Paul A. Mayewski** (U. of Maine), **Michael McCormick** (Harvard, SoHP), **Pascal Bohleber** (U. of Maine), **Andrei Kurbatov** (U. of Maine), **Alexander More** (Harvard, SoHP), **Nicole Spaulding** (U. of Maine), **Matthew Luongo** (Harvard College '17) ## David Reich (Harvard HMS/SoHP): "Toward a New History and Geography of Human Genes Informed by Ancient DNA” with comments by Nick Patterson (Broad Institute Harvard/MIT) October 5, 2015 For Photos, see the [event listing](/event/david-reich-harvard-hmssohp-toward-new-history-and-geography-human-genes-informed-ancient "David Reich (Harvard HMS/SoHP): "Toward a New History and Geography of Human Genes Informed by Ancient DNA” with comments by Nick Patterson (Broad Institute Harvard/MIT)"). ## “Environments, Genes, Archaeology, and the End of Prehistory: Discussion of the Making of the Middle Sea” A Round Table by the SoHP at Harvard University April 14, 2015 Speaker(s): **Cyprian Broodbank, Emma Dench, Michael Herzfeld, Nick Patterson, Daniel Lord Smail, Jason Ur** Hosted by: **Michael McCormick** Link: ## “Connecting Roman and Medieval climate and Historical Change: Five Challenges for the 21st Century” October 8, 2014 Yale University The Yale Working Group in Climate and History Link: ## The Encounter of Science and History Inaugural Conference November 1, 2013 1. **Introduction:** **Michael McCormick**, Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History Chair, Science of the Human Past **Alan Garber** ## The Encounter of Science and History Inaugural Conference 2\. **Evolutionary Forces in Humans and Pathogens:** **Pardis Sabeti** Link: ## The Encounter of Science and History Inaugural Conference **3. Ancient and Medieval Climate Change and the Future of Humanity:** **Michael McCormick,** Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History Chair, Science of the Human Past ## The Encounter of Science and History Inaugural Conference **4. Mixture between Highly Differentiated Populations in India, 1900-2400 years ago:** **David Reich**