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Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) in Jena was founded in 2014 to target fundamental questions of human history and evolution since the Paleolithic. From the vantage point of three interdisciplinary research departments – the Department of Archaeogenetics (Director Johannes Krause), the Department of Archaeology (Director Nicole Boivin), and the Department of Cultural and Linguistic Evolution (Director Russell Gray) – the MPI-SHH pursues an integrative approach to the study of human history that bridges the traditional divide between the natural sciences and the humanities.

By assembling experts from research areas as diverse as palaeogenetics, proteomics, bioinformatics, anthropology, archaeology, history, and quantitative linguistics, the MPI-SHH seeks to join and advance a broad range of methods, approaches, and datasets to explore big questions of the human past. Using state-of-the-art analytical techniques and technologies, the MPI-SHH tackles these and other topics:

– The settlement history of the world through past human migrations and genetic admixture events
– The spread and diversification of human-associated microbes and infectious diseases
– The impact of climatic and environmental change on human subsistence in different world regions
– Human modification of ecosystems
– The rise of early forms of global trade systems
– The spread and diversification of languages, cultures, and social practices
– The co-evolution of genes and culture

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 26 articles
Enterramiento de las víctimas de la peste negra en Tournai, Bélgica. Pierart dou Tielt / Wikimedia Commons

El polen nos dice que la peste negra fue terrible pero no tanto

Adam Izdebski, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Alessia Masi, Sapienza University of Rome, and Timothy P Newfield, Georgetown University

Se cree que la Peste Negra fue la pandemia más devastadora de la historia de Europa. Ahora, paleoecólogos e historiadores han puesto en duda su gravedad dado que el impacto en algunos territorios no fue muy acusado.
Burying Black Death Victims in Tournai, Belgium. Gilles Li Muisis, Annales, Bibliothèque Royal de Belgique, MS 13076-77, f. 24v.

The Black Death was not as widespread or catastrophic as long thought – new study

Adam Izdebski, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Alessia Masi, Sapienza University of Rome, and Timothy P Newfield, Georgetown University

The Black Death is believed to have been the most devastating pandemic in Europe’s history. Now paleoecologists and historians have cast doubt on how bad it was.
IMG. Photo credit: Wolfram Dressler

Indigenous knowledge and the persistence of the ‘wilderness’ myth

Michael-Shawn Fletcher, The University of Melbourne; Lisa Palmer, The University of Melbourne; Rebecca Hamilton, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and Wolfram Dressler, The University of Melbourne

Aboriginal people view so-called wilderness as sick, neglected land. This runs counter to the view of wilderness as pristine and healthy, which underpins non-Indigenous conservation efforts.
Eleanor Scerri

Research reveals humans ventured out of Africa repeatedly as early as 400,000 years ago, to visit the rolling grasslands of Arabia

Julien Louys, Griffith University; Gilbert Price, The University of Queensland; Huw Groucutt, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and Michael Petraglia, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

The new work presents the oldest dated evidence for hominins in Arabia, in the form of an ancient handaxe tool uncovered from the Nefud Desert.
Stone arrowheads (Maros points) and other flaked stone implements from the Toalean culture of South Sulawesi. Shahna Britton/Andrew Thomson

Who were the Toaleans? Ancient woman’s DNA provides first evidence for the origin of a mysterious lost culture

Adam Brumm, Griffith University; Adhi Oktaviana, Griffith University; Akin Duli, Universitas Hasanuddin; Basran Burhan, Griffith University; Cosimo Posth, University of Tübingen, and Selina Carlhoff, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

The first ancient human DNA from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi — and the wider Wallacea islands group — sheds light on the early human history of the region.
Shutterstock

The Wet Tropics’ wildlife is celebrated worldwide. Its cultural heritage? Not so much

Barry Hunter, Indigenous Knowledge; Alice Buhrich, James Cook University; Asa Ferrier, La Trobe University; Gerry Turpin, James Cook University, and Patrick Roberts, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Australians should see the rainforest as a cultural landscape – one that has been managed and maintained by people, rather than just a relic unchanged since the dinosaurs.
S. Anna Florin.

Burnt ancient nutshells reveal the story of climate change at Kakadu — now drier than ever before

Anna Florin, University of Wollongong; Andrew Fairbairn, The University of Queensland; Chris Clarkson, The University of Queensland; James Shulmeister, University of Canterbury; Nicholas R Patton, University of Canterbury, and Patrick Roberts, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Tiny nutshell fragments, found at a rock shelter in the Kakadu region, have helped researchers track past climate change in the region.
Los trolls se ponen creativos con su decepción electoral. Planet Flem/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Los trolls políticos se adaptan: crean nuevo material para engañar y confundir más a la audiencia

Gianluca Stringhini, Boston University and Savvas Zannettou, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Lo que publican cambia con el tiempo, según la coyuntura, arman nueva propaganda; amplifican mensajes creados por otros, y su material y método varia según la red.

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