New Courses & Lecture Series

Intros to archaeology, prehistory, genetics and much more!

Something I’ve always wanted to offer on this platform was old-fashioned video lectures on topics that you won’t find anywhere else, save perhaps a university. In particular I think the intersection of science and archaeology has garnered much interest in genetics and isotopes, but these can be incredibly confusing topics for the layperson.

So I will soon be releasing the first video lecture of five on the topic of genetics in archaeology. This is a course aimed at beginners, people who know next to nothing about the subject. We’ll build from first principles up to reading a full genetics paper, so even those with more familiarity might find it useful.

The topics will start with the fundamentals of nucleic and amino acids, building up to how genes work and are regulated, then how inheritance and genetic variation develops and how archaeologists can exploit this biology for data. Then we’ll turn to the methods researchers use to extract and interpret ancient DNA, before looking at where the field is today and tomorrow.

Hopefully my readers and subscribers will enjoy and benefit from this, I’ve done my best to use relevant and up-to-date examples, and covering live issues in genetics such as the evolution of milk consumption and identifying ancient groups like the Yamnaya.

If the course goes well I will aim to do more, so let me know what you’d like to see, either in written or video form, or both: