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For some years now, genetic studies have complemented the portfolio of archaeometric techniques to accurately reconstruct the ancestry, life history and phenotype of prehistoric people. Museums and cultural centres are keen to attract and inform their visitors with exhibits based on these cutting-edge research techniques. Yet the potential that the combination of different research methods, including palaeogenomics, offered to museums has not yet been fully exploited.
BIOMUSE is a project that brings together bio-molecular and anthropological expertise with heritage professionals to present individual biographies of ancient Greek (pre-)history to the public.
The idea is to use a holistic set of analytical techniques to help document, digitise and share a hitherto underutilised source of information on human cultural and biological heritage. To this end, we analysed more than 50 prehistoric humans, including their complete genomes, in diachronic time periods ranging from the Mesolithic to the Byzantine period. We then combined the genomic information with data from different scientific fields, i.e. archaeology, history, isotope chemistry, physical anthropology, to give a snapshot of the lives of these people and present them to the public using state-of-the-art museological communication and visualisation tools. By collaborating with museums and heritage organisations, we aim to raise awareness of the potential of biohistorical approaches to document the lives of anonymous people from the deep past. We hope that this will not only increase the existing knowledge about the genomic history of Greece, but also increase the attractiveness of the biological heritage to the public.

EAA2021: Abstract

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