• Identifier: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0634 (Contract. No. PD 73/2022)

• Principal Investigator: Lecturer Ioana (Rusu) DRĂGHICI at Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

• Project’s duration: 24 months (2022-2024)

• Total budget: 250.000 LEI (~ 52.000 EUR)

Summary

Constant methodological improvements in the field of molecular biology have led to new ways to learn about human history, origins, and evolution, issues that have sparked curiosity for millennia. Researchers are now able to recover and reconstruct DNA sequences stored in archaeological and fossil specimens, having direct access to genetic information from a specific point in time and space. More and more often, traditional means to study human past (written records, archaeological artifacts and osteological material) which are sometimes prone to debate, are complemented by ancient genetic information, a more accurate mirror to the past.

Regardless of improvements in our understanding regarding the genetic history of Europeans, several gaps in the archaeogenetic map remain to be filled as many geographic regions and historical periods are characterized by unbalanced genetic datasets. In particular, the current territory of Romania, a geographical space characterized by intense and complex human interactions, has been poorly investigated to date. In this frame, the proposed project aims to reveal a new puzzle piece of the European population history. Using state-of-the-art methods for aDNA analysis (Next Generation Sequencing), the ArchaeoGen project attempts to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial genomes of historical individuals with unknown cultural background from Romania.