Combining Ancient DNA and History: Interview with Dr. Pontus Skoglund

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ancient DNA has completely reshaped our understanding of prehistory, but what does it offer for periods when we actually have historical texts? Dr. Pontus Skoglund, one of the world's leading aDNA researchers, joins me to talk about his recent study of Iron Age and Medieval Europe, and how genomics can reveal new things even about periods we think we know well.

Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It’s all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoD

Listen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory

Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Tides of History early and ad-free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:13.2	Hi, everybody.
0:16.3	From Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.
0:19.2	I'm Patrick Wyman.
0:20.1	Thanks so much for joining me today.
0:22.1	Now, it's not an exaggeration to say that ancient DNA has fundamentally changed our understanding of the human past.
0:28.2	The genomes of people who have been dead for hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years,
0:32.4	offer new insights into aspects of human experience that had previously been completely unknown to us.
0:37.9	Whole new species of archaic human have come into view. So too have the processes of migration
0:42.9	and diffusion that brought our ancestors to every corner of the planet. But we are only just
0:48.8	scratching the surface of what ancient DNA can do. Today's guest works on the absolute
0:53.5	cutting edge of this exciting new tool.
0:56.5	Dr. Ponteskoglund is the group leader of the Francis Crick Institute's ancient genomics laboratory.
1:01.5	He has worked on a wide variety of topics over the years, ranging from migration to changes in the immune system.
1:07.1	There's a great chance that if you've been listening to Tides for a while, you have heard me discuss some aspect of his research, and I couldn't possibly be more stoked to talk to him today.
1:15.6	Specifically, we're going to be discussing a recent paper he co-authored entitled High Resolution
1:20.6	Genomic History of Early Medieval Europe. Dr. Skaghan, thank you so much for joining me today.
1:25.6	Thank you, Patrick's great to be here.
1:28.3	So how did you get interested in the study of ancient DNA?
1:33.0	Yeah, it's a long story, I guess.
1:35.0	I chose to study biology because I liked evolution.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery / Patrick Wyman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery / Patrick Wyman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.