Rough chronology of the beginning of the Bronze Age in various European regions

Figure from a presentation about an upcoming paper on the genetic origin of the Slavs. The figure displays the Slavic expansions based on new aDNA samples from the same paper as well as the admixture events that separated Slavs from Balts.

?????????British archaeologist and paleolinguist Professor Lord Colin Renfrew passed away three days ago, at the age of 87. He developed the Anatolian hypothesis for IE languages, which he later dismissed on the basis of ancient DNA. Despite his age, Renfrew was a firm believer in younger scientific fields such as archaeogenetics and was willing to reject his older theories based on more recent evidence. May he rest in peace. ????????? https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-lord-colin-renfrew-1937-2024

??Denmark's first Viking king soon to be tested for DNA?

Gorm the Old’s bones were first discovered under the floor of Jelling Church in 1978. He was between 35-50 years old at the time of his death. Scientists used a CT-scan of the bones, which have since been reburied under the church in Jelling, to reconstruct them with a 3D printer.3D scans allowed them to adjust for the pressure damage that occurred after burial, says Marie Louise Jørkov, a postdoc in the Section of Forensic Pathology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

For example, the skull had been flattened after being buried for so many years. “Then you can print the bones one to one in 3D, which makes it possible to display the bones. We can then re-analyse the skeleton and study the bones to look for any signs of disease, which can’t be seen at the surface,” says Jørkov. A 3D print of Gorm the Old’s cranium, seen from behind. The unusual growth is illustrated in yellow. (Photo: Marie Louise Jørkov) The reconstructed bones revealed a rather odd lump on the back of Gorm’s head. “He had a very pronounced growth on his neck just where it meets the back of the head. It looks like a bird’s beak and it’s really pronounced. It’s not totally unheard of, but we don’t see it very often,” says Jørkov.

Older technology did not allow for extraction of DNA from Gorm's bones, but a new attempt will be made in late 2024 by researchers at Copenhagen University. This may shed light on the ancestry of not only Gorm but also his son Harald Bluetooth.
https://globe.ku.dk/research/lundbeck-foundation-geogenetics-centre/
https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/gorm-den-gamle-printet-i-3d-havde-maerkelig-gevaekst-i-nakken/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorm_the_Old ??

globe.ku.dk

Lundbeck Foundation Centre for GeoGenetics

The Centre aims to lay out a new avenue for studies of the origins of common endogenous human disorders and infectious diseases, which promote a perception of these disorders as a consequence of evolution.