Ancient DNA has revolutionized the field of archaeology over the past few years by providing unprecedented insights into past population movements, admixture events with other hominins - like Neanderthals - and adaptation to particular environments. This revolution is tightly linked with the introduction of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies and the rise of “big data”. This intensive one-week course will provide students with a broad introduction to the varied uses of ancient DNA in archaeology and hands-on experience working with high-throughput sequencing datasets. The course is composed of a series of lectures, covering a wide range of topics and hands-on computing practicals, and is primarily aimed at students in biology, archaeology, linguistics, and related fields who would like to learn more about ancient DNA applications in the post-genome era.

Applicants should have a first degree in archaeology, biology, linguistics or a related field.

Knowledge:

• understanding of taphonomic processes and their effects on the biological preservation of archaeological skeletal remains;

• basic knowledge of ancient DNA laboratory methods;

• basic understanding of downstream computational and population genomic analyses and potential applications of ancient DNA in archaeology;

Skills:

• design an effective sampling strategy for ancient DNA analysis of archaeological samples;

• recognize the technological strengths and weaknesses of ancient DNA laboratory methods;

• handle high-throughput DNA sequencing datasets;

Competencies:

• understanding the potential and limitations of ancient DNA in archaeology;

• critically evaluate past applications of ancient DNA in archaeology;

• grasp the computational methodology underlying ancient DNA studies;

Literature will be provided prior to the start of the course.

Lectures, computing practicals, and seminars based around paper discussions.

Please refer to external course website and schedule www.archaeomics.ku.dk