Gutorm Gjessing Lecture 2019: Professor emeritus David W. Anthony

We are pleased to announce David W. Anthony as our second speaker for the Gutorm Gjessing Lecture Series, with the lecture "Nomads from the east: ancient DNA, migration, and the origins of Bronze Age Europe".

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Professor emeritus David W. Anthony

David Anthony is an American anthropologist and archaeologist, specialized in Indo-European history and languages, and Professor at Hartwick College since 1987. He has contributed substantially to research areas like the domestication of the horse, the invention of wheeled transport, prehistoric migration and language spread, and, more lately, the repercussions of ancient DNA in steppe archaeology. Anthony has conducted extensive archaeological fieldwork in Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

He will present the following lecture: 

Nomads from the east: ancient DNA, migration, and the origins of Bronze Age Europe

Ancient DNA has recently proved that people from the steppes of Russia and Ukraine, associated with the Yamnaya culture, migrated westward into Europe and eastward into Asia around 3000 BC, causing the largest demographic turnover of the last 5000 years and probably spreading the ancestor of the Indo-European languages.

But our understanding of the Yamnaya migrations is complicated by decades of adherence to simplistic tropes of faceless nomadic hordes pouring out of the steppes to destroy agricultural civilizations. In this lecture Dr. Anthony discusses new evidence from ancient DNA and archaeological studies that show how our stereotypes of nomads have prevented us from understanding the complexities of the steppe societies that had such a profound effect on Bronze Age.

Registration:

Registration is now closed for this event.

The lecture will be live streamed at https://www.khm.uio.no/om/aktuelt/live/

Following the lecture there will be light refreshments and the opportunity to continue the conversation in a more informal setting.

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Published July 12, 2019 10:38 AM - Last modified June 9, 2023 11:46 AM