2025/02/13 by Margherita Colucci, Michela Leonardi, Jason A. Hodgson +2 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Race, Genetics, and Society #Evolution and Science Education #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.47248/hpgg2505010001
openalex publication_date 2025/02/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Archaeology and the branch of population genetics focusing on the human past have historically lived parallel lives, often having complicated encounters when it came to unravelling the origins and evolution of Homo sapiens. These interactions were proven invaluable to obtain a deeper and more complete understanding of our past. At the same time, they sometimes uncovered biases and misinterpretations, with serious consequences for our understanding of data, methods and, most importantly, the history of our species. Cavalli-Sforza pioneered a real multidisciplinary approach, bridging population genetics and statistics with archaeology, human origins, and other fields in the humanities, inspiring researchers from these fields and blazing a trail for today’s successful interactions and collaborations. His legacy showed that these interdisciplinary approaches are possible and of vital importance, and exposed areas that still need significant development today.