Genetic characterization of ancestral French populations using ancient DNA – ANCESTRA

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Genetic characterization of ancestral French populations using ancient DNA – ANCESTRA

I was asking for French samples. Well well!! This is very exciting.

The aim of ANCESTRA is to reconstruct the peopling of the territory of present-day France by characterizing the different waves of human populations since the Neolithic and until the beginning of the Middle-Ages. By means of ancient DNA studies, we can directly access the genetic make-up, the ancestry, the phenotypes, the pathogens and the adaptation to diet and environmental conditions of ancient populations characterized archaeologically in time and space. We will then be able to depict the ancient population structure in this geographic region and compare it with the structure of the modern French population as well as with other geographic regions from which data are already available. The study will bring about the scientific basis to put in a broad context the last century of immigration as the continuation of the “French Story” over the last 6000 years and help to better understand the integration process of migrants.

https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-15-CE27-0001

http://etudesindoeuropeennes.fr/content/61
Interview - "The gene writes history" (June 2019)
JDM
20/06/2019
"The gene writes history"
Interview with M?lanie Pruvost, palaeogeneticist in charge of the Ancestra project, in "l'Est-?clair" (02/06/2019) :
The Ancestra project started at the end of 2015. Where is it at today?
It has been extended until the end of March 2020. We have worked chronologically. We have practically finished Protohistory and we still have Antiquity and the High Middle Ages to deal with.
How were the samples selected?
It was done in coordination with Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research). It was really a dialogue with the archaeologists to be able to answer questions about migration-we needed a good sampling for each period in the same region-but also to select individuals who could respond to issues related to archaeological sites. The notion of field is very important.
What kind of sampling in Champagne?
We have already analyzed about sixty individuals. We went all the way through the analysis. For Protohistory, we have about 40 more. And we have even more for Antiquity and the High Middle Ages. How many in total? We haven't counted yet...

What's the balance between palaeogenetics and field archaeology?
The project as it has been built is oriented towards palaeogenetics and palaeogenomics, but of course we work closely with archaeologists. In the Ancestra project itself, there are no plans to reprocess the field data. It's a constant back and forth between what has been discovered in the field, the archaeologists' problems and what we find. Sometimes we come back to the archaeologists and say, "In view of the results, we think that... ?
Who leads the dance, palaeogenetics, archaeology or both?
You can't do anything in paleogenetics if you don't have good archaeological data. Field archaeology is our core subject. You can't work on samples outside of the archaeological context, outside of the stratigraphy, without dating... If you don't have information, you can't draw conclusions. It's not "one replaces the other". It is "one with the other".
By questioning a number of theories, paleogenetics has troubled some archaeologists?
Paleogenetics above all makes it possible to take up theories that had been discarded for sometimes ideological or political reasons. We are at a time when palaeogenetics and palaeogenomics are becoming increasingly involved. We are going to have to find the balance and a common vocabulary to be able to discuss them together. A number of problems stem from a misunderstanding of each other's data.
When you're a geneticist, how do you get into archaeology?
I've always been passionate about archaeology. I wanted to be an archaeologist. I did volunteer archaeological digs for about ten years, in parallel with my studies in genetics. So I coupled the two fields...
Interview by J.-M. Van Houtte
Comments:
The Ancestra Project was launched in 2016 under the aegis of the Institut Jacques Monod-Universit? Paris Diderot. Its objective is to study, through palaeogenetics, the settlement of France from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages. These results, placed in a broader chronological and geographical context, will make it possible to understand the movement of populations in France during the Neolithic and Bronze Age.
If one reads between the lines of this interview, this palaeogenetic work should break the lead that has been weighing down French archaeology for several decades now. In any case, France will no longer be a "black hole" in the study of ancient DNA:
http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/ancient-human-dna_41837#4/52.40/28.48
Following the example of neighbouring countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux, Spain, Germany) which have already carried out this type of large-scale palaeogenetic study on their soil, we should logically also find, in our Bronze Age and then Iron Age populations, the "Indo-European" genetic markers originating from the region of the Caspio-Pontic Steppes and the Yamna culture (pit graves).
 
I was asking for French samples. Well well!! This is very exciting.

The aim of ANCESTRA is to reconstruct the peopling of the territory of present-day France by characterizing the different waves of human populations since the Neolithic and until the beginning of the Middle-Ages. By means of ancient DNA studies, we can directly access the genetic make-up, the ancestry, the phenotypes, the pathogens and the adaptation to diet and environmental conditions of ancient populations characterized archaeologically in time and space. We will then be able to depict the ancient population structure in this geographic region and compare it with the structure of the modern French population as well as with other geographic regions from which data are already available. The study will bring about the scientific basis to put in a broad context the last century of immigration as the continuation of the “French Story” over the last 6000 years and help to better understand the integration process of migrants.

https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-15-CE27-0001

http://etudesindoeuropeennes.fr/content/61
Interview - "The gene writes history" (June 2019)
JDM
20/06/2019
"The gene writes history"
Interview with M�lanie Pruvost, palaeogeneticist in charge of the Ancestra project, in "l'Est-�clair" (02/06/2019) :
The Ancestra project started at the end of 2015. Where is it at today?
It has been extended until the end of March 2020. We have worked chronologically. We have practically finished Protohistory and we still have Antiquity and the High Middle Ages to deal with.
How were the samples selected?
It was done in coordination with Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research). It was really a dialogue with the archaeologists to be able to answer questions about migration-we needed a good sampling for each period in the same region-but also to select individuals who could respond to issues related to archaeological sites. The notion of field is very important.
What kind of sampling in Champagne?
We have already analyzed about sixty individuals. We went all the way through the analysis. For Protohistory, we have about 40 more. And we have even more for Antiquity and the High Middle Ages. How many in total? We haven't counted yet...

What's the balance between palaeogenetics and field archaeology?
The project as it has been built is oriented towards palaeogenetics and palaeogenomics, but of course we work closely with archaeologists. In the Ancestra project itself, there are no plans to reprocess the field data. It's a constant back and forth between what has been discovered in the field, the archaeologists' problems and what we find. Sometimes we come back to the archaeologists and say, "In view of the results, we think that... �
Who leads the dance, palaeogenetics, archaeology or both?
You can't do anything in paleogenetics if you don't have good archaeological data. Field archaeology is our core subject. You can't work on samples outside of the archaeological context, outside of the stratigraphy, without dating... If you don't have information, you can't draw conclusions. It's not "one replaces the other". It is "one with the other".
By questioning a number of theories, paleogenetics has troubled some archaeologists?
Paleogenetics above all makes it possible to take up theories that had been discarded for sometimes ideological or political reasons. We are at a time when palaeogenetics and palaeogenomics are becoming increasingly involved. We are going to have to find the balance and a common vocabulary to be able to discuss them together. A number of problems stem from a misunderstanding of each other's data.
When you're a geneticist, how do you get into archaeology?
I've always been passionate about archaeology. I wanted to be an archaeologist. I did volunteer archaeological digs for about ten years, in parallel with my studies in genetics. So I coupled the two fields...
Interview by J.-M. Van Houtte
Comments:
The Ancestra Project was launched in 2016 under the aegis of the Institut Jacques Monod-Universit� Paris Diderot. Its objective is to study, through palaeogenetics, the settlement of France from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages. These results, placed in a broader chronological and geographical context, will make it possible to understand the movement of populations in France during the Neolithic and Bronze Age.
If one reads between the lines of this interview, this palaeogenetic work should break the lead that has been weighing down French archaeology for several decades now. In any case, France will no longer be a "black hole" in the study of ancient DNA:
http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/ancient-human-dna_41837#4/52.40/28.48
Following the example of neighbouring countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux, Spain, Germany) which have already carried out this type of large-scale palaeogenetic study on their soil, we should logically also find, in our Bronze Age and then Iron Age populations, the "Indo-European" genetic markers originating from the region of the Caspio-Pontic Steppes and the Yamna culture (pit graves).

Well, finally, yes??? :)

It also sounds as if it's being sensibly done.

Great news. :)
 
Results coming soon, hopefully. I'll keep you updated!
 
Wow that's what I have been waiting for since years ago! Finally France is catching up with other parts of the world in using archaeogenetics to illuminate not just the past of the country, but of the world. It was always a pity that so few aDNA samples from France were available, because France is most likely to have been the gateway and the bridge to lots of important demographic and sociocultural changes in Western Europe and Central Europe (and even beyond).
 
Interesting , i will stay tuned !
 
Says a lot that they had to advertise their research with Current Politics.
 

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