🚨 Save the Date!

We’re thrilled to announce #SPAAM8 – a gathering of experts in ancient metagenomics research! 🌎

📅 When: June 22nd 2026
📍Where: Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪 (and online)
Stay tuned for updates and registration details!

#metagenomics #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics

Recovering Mycobacterium tuberculosis 🦠 from ancient samples is notoriously difficult. But, in this new study, the elusive M. tuberculosis DNA was detected in five individuals from medieval Ireland - the first molecular evidence of TB in the region.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tube.2025.102710
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #tuberculosis #TB #pathogen #genomics

The Altai wasn’t just home to Denisovans. 🏔️🧬Ancient DNA revealed unexpected bovine diversity 🦬, including a mysterious yak-like lineage (yak "X") now seemingly lost to time.
https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/11/evaf206/8315343
#MetagenomicsMonday #ancientDNA #aDNA #paleogenomics #zooarchaeology #denisovacave #altai #yak

Ancient DNA from an Ice Age burial in Italy reveals a mother and daughter linked by a rare growth disorder, marking the earliest genetic diagnosis in humans and offering new evidence for care of disabled individuals in prehistory. #Paleogenomics #Archaeology #HumanEvolution https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-short-bones-that-spoke-diagnosing

How and when did domestic cats conquer the world? 🐈 The aDNA study recently published in Science tells a fascinating story about the human-mediated dispersal of our purring furry friends.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt2642
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #cats #zooarcheology #domestication

REMINDER 🚨🚨🚨 The SPAAM Community is thrilled to announce our first-ever blog post
competition!
You will not only get a chance of having your post featured on the SPAAM website
but also win a mystery book prize!
For more info and how to submit visit:
https://www.spaam-community.org/news/2025/11/25/blog-post-competition/
#SPAAM #aDNA #writingcontest #sciencecommunication #paleogenomics

Check out this new paper on the inter-species admixture 🧬 within an extinct and yummy-sounding avian species 🦜 - the honeycreeper! 🍯
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0265
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #museumscience #avian #honeycreeper

Scientists sequence a woolly rhino genome from a 14,400-year-old wolf’s stomach

Fortunately for paleogeneticists, wolf puppies don’t chew their food thoroughly.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/01/scientists-sequence-a-woolly-rhino-genome-from-a-14400-year-old-wolfs-stomach/#megafauna #megafaunal-extinction #paleoecology #paleogenomics #science #siberia #woolly-rhino

Scientists sequence a woolly rhino genome from a 14,400-year-old wolf’s stomach https://arstechni.ca/22pY #megafaunalextinction #paleogenomics #paleoecology #woollyrhino #Megafauna #Science #science #siberia

Dreaming of a de novo assembly of your pesky short ancient sequences? 🧬 A new tool, CarpeDeam, may just help your dreams come true. 🧬🖥️
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13059-025-03839-5
#MetagenomicsMonday #ancientDNA #aDNA #paleogenomics #bioinformatics

We are excited to share with you the latest SPAAM Newsletter!
Inside, you’ll find:
- announcements about upcoming events and workshops
- funding and research opportunities worth exploring
- highlights of the latest publications in ancient metagenomics
https://www.spaam-community.org/assets/media/SPAAM_newsletter_8.html
We hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to staying connected with you!
#SPAAM #aDNA #Newsletter #paleogenomics #metagenomics

The SPAAM Community is thrilled to announce our first-ever blog post competition!
You will not only get a chance of having your post featured on the SPAAM website but also win a mystery book prize!
For more info and how to submit visit: https://www.spaam-community.org/news/2025/11/25/blog-post-competition/
#SPAAM #aDNA #writingcontest #sciencecommunication #paleogenomics

Starting 2026 strong with the first #MetagenomicsMonday 🧬post this year! Its 1976, deer remains are found in a Toronto subway and its antlers look.. well, different! 🦌 Is it an extinct megafauna species that disappeared by the end of ice age? Check out the paper by Kessler et al., 📄🧬
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0497
#SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #megafauna #deer

Ancient wolves found on a remote Baltic island show signs of human provisioning, injury care, and isolation. Their presence hints at overlooked forms of wolf management long before true domestication. #Archaeology #Paleogenomics #Wolves #HumanEvolution https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-wolves-who-crossed-the-water

13-Nov-2025
#Paleogenomics: #humans and #dogs spread across Eurasia together
((well it would have been surprising if dogs had spread on their own ...))
A genomic study shows that over the last 10,000 years, diverse Eurasian cultures kept and spread genetically distinct dog populations.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1105503 #science #genome #ancientDNA #domestication #canines #pets

#dogs #paleogenomics

"Paleogenomics study shows humans and dogs spread across Eurasia together

Dogs have been part of human societies across Eurasia for at least 20,000 years, accompanying us through many social and cultural upheavals.

A new study by an international team, published in the journal Science, and led by Laurent Frantz, paleogeneticist at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), shows that the spread of new cultures across Eurasia, with different lifeways, was often associated with the spread of specific dog populations.

Scientists from LMU, QMUL, the Kunming Institute of Zoology and Lanzhou University in China, and the University of Oxford, sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 17 ancient dogs from Siberia, East Asia, and the Central Asian Steppe—including, for the first time, specimens from China.

Important cultural changes occurred in these regions over the past 10,000 years, driven by the dispersal of hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists. The specimens came from archaeological sites between 9,700 and 870 years old. In addition, the researchers included publicly available genomes from 57 ancient and 160 modern dogs in their analyses."

https://phys.org/news/2025-11-paleogenomics-humans-dogs-eurasia.html

2-Sep-2025
Ancient #mammoth remains yield the world's oldest host-associated bacterial #DNA

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1096448

#science #ancientDNA #genome #evolution #paleogenomics #bacteria #ecology

🇵🇹 🧬 **The genetic history of Portugal over the past 5,000 years**

"_We reveal dynamic patterns of migration in line with cultural exchange across millennia, but also the persistence of local ancestries._"

Roca-Rada, X., Davidson, R., Williams, M.P. et al. The genetic history of Portugal over the past 5,000 years. Genome Biol 26, 248 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03707-2.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #Science #Ancient #DNA #Portugal #Iberia #Paleogenomics #Genetics #Archaeology #Anthropology #Migration #Academia @science @archaeology @anthropology

#MetagenomicsMonday 🧬 Ancient DNA uncovers a lost harp seal population in the Baltic Sea that was genetically distinct from their Arctic cousins! Changes in climate and water salinity combined with human hunting likely sealed their fate. #ancientDNA #paleogenomics
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.71322

"Ancient DNA indicates 3,000 years of genetic continuity in the Northern Iranian Plateau, from the Copper Age to the Sassanid Empire"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-99743-w

#aDNA #ancientDNA #PaleoGenetics #PaleoGenomics #PopulationGenetics