Reconstructing Paleolithic Population Dynamics Using Microstratified Paleogenomic Analysis

Introduction

Modern humans are defined and sustained by interactions and networks. In Paleolithic contexts, reconstructing interactions and networks is limited to inferences based on material culture or direct evidence of biological relatedness, but evidence on the latter in the form of human fossils is very rare.

Archaeogenetic Research

Still, archaeogenetic research can formulate supra-regional models for broad time periods based on only a few genomes by distinguishing ancient clades, but not to the level of interactions between human groups of particular cultural complexes.

New Genomic Archives

Recently, archaeological sediments and speleothems - karstic cave formations - have been revealed as a further genomic archive for past environments and past human populations, initiating a new phase in archaeogenetic research. These new archives have the potential to greatly expand the archaeogenetic record as they stem from ubiquitous environmental sources and provide the spatial and temporal resolution to zoom into population dynamics at the group level.

Challenges in aDNA Preservation

However, what this ancient DNA (aDNA) originates from and under what conditions it preserves over time are still open questions.

Proposed Framework

I here suggest placing this paleogenomic data into a microstratigraphic framework, where individual depositional events are recorded in microscopic features, to overcome these problems and to provide high-resolution time series of population interactions.

Research Objectives

Using an interdisciplinary toolkit, I will:

1. Reconstruct the source, origin, and deposition of sedimentary and speleothem aDNA in archaeological contexts.
2. Identify ideal preservation contexts for this type of aDNA with a focus on in-field assessments.
3. Extract genomic time series from archaeological sediments and speleothems.

Application of the Approach

I will apply this approach to Upper Paleolithic sites in Georgia to reconstruct the relatedness of the people using individual sites over time and across contemporaneous sites set against regional expressions of climate and paleoenvironment change.