The ERC-funded Ancestor Project (2020-25) was set to test alternative models of prehistoric inequality and pathways. It studies social relations in life using autobiography and explores pathways using funerary taphonomy.
Tina Saupe, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Jakobsson Lab is one of the project participants. Her research focuses on the correlation between shifts in ancestral genetic components and socio-cultural-related patterns. For the Ancestors project, Tina generates and analyses genome-wide data from the Italian Peninsula and the Balkans.
The team of researchers spans the University of Cambridge (UK), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), and the University of Tartu (Estonia). It brings together the fields of autobiography, taphonomy, ancient DNA, bioarchaeology, and isotope analysis. Combining these methodologies makes it possible to connect ancient lives and deaths.
The project’s results provide insight into the ways inequality affected lives in prehistoric Europe and the role that ancestors played in it.