Profiling the entire genomes of ancient Europeans - a pipe dream or a
wonderful challenge?
Morten E. Allentoft
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
"The Rise" is an ERC funded project of Early European Bronze Age (2000-3000
BC). While including a range of scientific disciplines, it also represents what is
arguably the largest DNA study of ancient human populations to date. The aim is
to generate genome-wide data from hundreds of individuals to obtain a high
resolution genetic image of the mobility and origin of early Europeans. It is still
early days in terms of population genetic analyses, but the many hundred
millions of DNA sequences generated so far has provided signficant insights into
DNA preservation and degradation. This information can assist in defining the
genomic potential in "The "Rise" and future projects with similar aims. In the
light of these results, I will discuss what is required to take European archaeogenetics past the traditional mitochondrial haplogroup analyses, and into the era
of high-resolution genomics. Is it all just a pipe dream?