Research project Code, Narrative, History: Making Sense of Ancient DNA in Contemporary Society

Archaeogenetics, the use of molecular techniques to extract and analyse the DNA from ancient humans and animals, is an expanding research field that has enjoyed much public attention over the past few years. Despite the growing interest in archaeogenetics, there is little formal research on the processes through which historical narratives are created from DNA sequences. Ancient DNA codes consist of a series of molecules without inherent significance; to become meaningful, genetic data must be interpreted through existing cultural and historical frameworks.

Code Narrative History investigates how wordless DNA-codes are translated into historical narratives. A research team including an archaeologist, a media historian and a historian of ideas, supported by a consultant population geneticist, follow three archaeogenetic research projects in Sweden, France, the UK, and the USA, and analyse the historical narratives which have been connected to their findings. Through international comparisons, the project aims to investigate how such narratives are related to the politics, national stories and traditional historiographies of each country.

The research project is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond - the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences - running between February 2018 and December 2021.

Project managers

Members

A special issue of the Journal of Social Archaeology

A special issue on aDNA was published in the Journal of Social Archaeology (vol 21:2) 2021, edited by the project members of Code, Narrative, History.

Symposium and publication 2021

The research project Code Narrative History arranges the International symposium Code, Narrative, History: Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University, May 11, 2021. A special number about archaeogenetics will also be published during 2021, in the Journal of Social Archaeology.

Activities

2021:

• April 27. Anna Källén commenting on aDNA analysis as a historical method, Vetenskapsradion historia.
• Feb 5. Anna Källén commenting on aDNA analysis as a historical method, Vetenskapspodden, Sveriges radio.
• March 24. Interview with Anna Källén on Vetenskapsradion, Sveriges radio.
• March 31. Daniel Strand commenting on the article ”I am a Viking!” on Studio Ett, Sveriges radio.

2019:

• November 12-14. Attending the conference Arkeogenetik och genetisk genealogi, Umeå University.

• November 6. Presentation at Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University.

• October 12. Public panel on ancient DNA at Arkeologiforum, Stockholm.

• October 2-9. Fieldwork research in Paris and Bordeaux, France.

• September 24-25. Attending the symposium Unlocking the Past: Ancient DNA at SciLifeLab, Uppsala University.

• May 21. Discussion about ancient DNA, Bildningspodden.

• April 4. Presentation at School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University.

• February 22-23. Attending the conference The Ancient DNA Revolution in Archaeology at Jukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University. See the conference here.

• February 27. Public lecture ”The Real Lagertha and the Anatolian Farmers: Two Stories of Ancient DNA” at Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics, Cornell University.

• March 1. Presentation of the paper ”Ancient DNA: A Complicated History” at the conference Polarized Pasts, at Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University.

2018:

• 5 March. Presentation at Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley.

• 7 March 2018. Presentation at Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine.

• 3 May 2018. Presentation at Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, Uppsala University.

• 9 May 2018. Presentation at Department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University.

• 7 July 2018. Seminar at Campus Gotland (Almedalsveckan), Visby. See the seminar here.