In the past decade, methodological developments in ancient DNA research have been accompanied by animated stories of ancient peoples. In the history of the Americas, there have been stories of ancient populations “blasting across the continent”, and in stories of the European Bronze Age, the Yamnaya have been described as “migrants from Russia” and “the most murderous people of all times”. This paper will present these impactful stories as products of a revived love affair between population genetics and archaeology – an affair that goes back to the 1920s, when leading figures such as Ronald Fisher at UCL developed the statistical models that remain foundational to population genetics, while also being a global spokesperson for eugenics and arguing that “the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development”. The paper will show how population genetics – with its statistical models rooted in the 1920s and its privileging of the nation-like concept of population – has been highly influential in the recent shaping of our ancient past in new, or revived, images and stories of human culture and identity. What are the potential consequences of the renaissance of population genetics in archaeology, in the shifting political landscapes of our times? How shall we navigate around the spectres of Ronald Fisher in current archaeology?

First Author: Anna Källén

Keywords:
ancient DNA
population genetics
nation
statistics
race
politics