Joachim Burger

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Joachim Burger
Born (1969-06-27) 27 June 1969 (age 54)
Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, West Germany

Joachim Burger (born 27 June 1969 in Aschaffenburg, West Germany) is a German anthropologist and population geneticist based at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, where he runs the Palaeogenetics Group at the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iOME).

Contents

Scientific career

Burger has pioneered the application of ancient DNA technology to resolve anthropological and archaeological questions, particularly concerning humans and domestic animals in the Holocene period. He received his MA in anthropology in 1997, and his PhD in biology at the Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany, in 2000. He was made professor (junior professor) in molecular archaeology in 2005, and professor in anthropology in 2010. He is based at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.

The main focus of Burger's research is human population genetics of Europe in the early Holocene, and of Central Asia during Bronze and Iron Age. [1] He applies palaepopulation-genetic methods, i.e. uses ancient DNA data from archaeological skeletons and statistical inference methods to compare these "fossil" DNA sequences amongst each other and to modern-day populations. He pioneered the field of human palaeo-population genetics. [2] [3] [4] Together with an international team he showed in 2009 that the first European farmers were immigrants to the continent and not descendants of local hunter-gatherers. [5] In 2016, he published the first ancient genome from the Fertile Crescent. [6] The study demonstrates that the first Neolithic farmers had populated Europe from the western/central part of Anatolia [7] [8] but not from Iran. [9] He also works on the population genetics of the Medieval period [10] [11] and of animal domestication. [12]

Burger also is the editor of the journal, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences and corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI).

Selected scientific publications

1. Broushaki, F., Thomas, M.G., et al., Wegmann, D., Hellenthal, G., Burger, J. (2016) Early Neolithic genomes from the eastern Fertile Crescent. Science 353(6298):499-503.

2. Hofmanová Z, Kreutzer S, et al., Papageorgopoulou C and Burger J (2016). Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans. PNAS 113: 6886-6891.

3. Scheu, A., Powell, A., Bollongino, R., Vigne, J. D., Tresset, A., Cakirlar, C., Benecke, N., Burger, J. (2015) The genetic prehistory of domesticated cattle from their origin to the spread across Europe. BMC Genet 16:54

4. Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N., Mittnik, A., Renaud, G., Mallick, S., Sudmant, P.H., Schraiber, J.G., Castellano, S., Kirsanow, K., Economou, Chr., Bollongino, R., ... 80 coauthors..., Eichler, E.E., Burger, J., Slatkin, M., Pääbo, S., Kelso, J., Reich, D., Krause, J. (2014) Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present day Europeans. Nature 513, 409 413.

5. Wilde, S., Timpson, A., Kirsanow, K., Kaiser, E., Kayser, M., Unterländer, M., Hollfelder, N., Potekhina, I.D., Schier, W., Thomas, M.G., and Burger, J. (2014) Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 y. PNAS 111(13):4832 4837.

6. Bollongino, R., Nehlich, O., Richards, M., Orschiedt, J., Thomas, M.G., Sell, C., Fajko.ova, Z., Powell, A., and Burger, J. (2013) 2000 Years of Parallel Societies in Stone Age Central Europe. Science 342(6157):479 481.

7. Bramanti, B., Thomas, M.G., Haak, W., Unterlaender, M., Jores, P., Tambets, K., Antanaitis Jacobs, I., Haidle, M.N., Jankauskas, R., Kind, C.J., Lueth, F., Terberger, T., Hiller, J., Matsumura, S., Forster, P., and Burger, J. (2009) Genetic discontinuity between local hunter gatherers and central Europe’s first farmers. Science 326(5949):137 140.

8. Itan, Y., Powell, A., Beaumont, M.A., Burger, J., and Thomas, M.G. (2009) The origins of lactase persistence in Europe. PLoS Computational Biology 5(8):e1000491.

9. Burger, J., Kirchner, M., Bramanti, B., Haak, W., and Thomas, M.G. (2007) Absence of the lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans. PNAS 104(10):3736-3741.

10. Haak, W., Forster, P., Bramanti, B., Matsumura, S., Brandt, G., Tänzer, M., Villems, R., Renfrew, C., Gronenborn, D., Alt, K.W., and Burger, J. (2005) Ancient DNA from the first European farmers in 7500-year-old Neolithic sites. Science 310(5750):1016-1018.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Unterländer, Martina; Palstra, Friso; Lazaridis, Iosif; Pilipenko, Aleksandr; Hofmanová, Zuzana; Groß, Melanie; Sell, Christian; Blöcher, Jens; Kirsanow, Karola (2017-03-03). "Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe". Nature Communications. 8: 14615. doi:10.1038/ncomms14615. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5337992 . PMID   28256537.
  2. ↑ Haak, Wolfgang; Forster, Peter; Bramanti, Barbara; Matsumura, Shuichi; Brandt, Guido; Tänzer, Marc; Villems, Richard; Renfrew, Colin; Gronenborn, Detlef (2005-11-11). "Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites". Science. 310 (5750): 1016–1018. doi:10.1126/science.1118725. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   16284177. S2CID   11546893.
  3. ↑ Burger, J.; Kirchner, M.; Bramanti, B.; Haak, W.; Thomas, M. G. (2007-02-28). "Absence of the lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (10): 3736–3741. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0607187104 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   1820653 . PMID   17360422.
  4. ↑ Curry, Andrew (2013-07-31). "Archaeology: The milk revolution". Nature. 500 (7460): 20–22. doi: 10.1038/500020a . ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   23903732.
  5. ↑ Bramanti, B.; Thomas, M. G.; Haak, W.; Unterlaender, M.; Jores, P.; Tambets, K.; Antanaitis-Jacobs, I.; Haidle, M. N.; Jankauskas, R. (2009-09-03). "Genetic Discontinuity Between Local Hunter-Gatherers and Central Europe's First Farmers". Science. 326 (5949): 137–140. doi: 10.1126/science.1176869 . ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   19729620. S2CID   206521424.
  6. ↑ Zahn, Laura M. (2016-07-28). "Near Eastern genomes from Iran". Science. 353 (6298): 458.1–458. doi:10.1126/science.353.6298.458-a. ISSN   0036-8075.
  7. ↑ Hofmanová, Zuzana; Kreutzer, Susanne; Hellenthal, Garrett; Sell, Christian; Diekmann, Yoan; Díez-del-Molino, David; Dorp, Lucy van; López, Saioa; Kousathanas, Athanasios (2016-06-21). "Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (25): 6886–6891. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1523951113 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4922144 . PMID   27274049.
  8. ↑ "Early farmers from across Europe were direct descendants of Aegeans | (e) Science News". esciencenews.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  9. ↑ "Prehistoric genomes from the world's first farmers in the Zagros mountains reveal different Neolithic ancestry for Europeans and South Asians". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  10. ↑ Price, Michael, Strange, elongated skulls reveal medieval Bulgarian brides were traded for politics , Science, March 12, 2018
  11. ↑ Veeramah, Krishna R.; Rott, Andreas; Groß, Melanie; van Dorp, Lucy; López, Saioa; Kirsanow, Karola; Sell, Christian; Blöcher, Jens; Wegmann, Daniel (2018-03-12). "Population genomic analysis of elongated skulls reveals extensive female-biased immigration in Early Medieval Bavaria". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (13): 3494–3499. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1719880115 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   5879695 . PMID   29531040.
  12. ↑ Scheu, Amelie; Powell, Adam; Bollongino, Ruth; Vigne, Jean-Denis; Tresset, Anne; Çakırlar, Canan; Benecke, Norbert; Burger, Joachim (2015-05-28). "The genetic prehistory of domesticated cattle from their origin to the spread across Europe". BMC Genetics. 16 (1): 54. doi:10.1186/s12863-015-0203-2. ISSN   1471-2156. PMC   4445560 . PMID   26018295.
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