Professor Greger Larson

larson
Director Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network
Brasenose College
+44 (0)1865 611745
greger.larson@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

Evolutionary Genomics; Ancient DNA; Domestication; Human and Animal dispersal; Phylogenetics.

Research Profile

Research Activites

Current Grants

  • Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/L006979/1)
  • Unifying Domestication and Evolutionary Biology through Ancient DNA (UNDEAD)
  • European Research Council (ERC-2013-StG 337574-UNDEAD)           
  • Deciphering dog domestication through a combined ancient DNA and geometric morphometric approach
  • Natural Environment Research Council, UK (NE/K005243/1 and NE/K003259/1)

Education

  • D. Phil., Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford 2006
  • Ph.D. student, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado 2002
  • M. St., World Archaeology, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Oxford 2000
  • BA., Environment, Economics, & Politics, Claremont McKenna College, California 1996

Links

Publications
Teaching

Postgraduate teaching

Course lecturer in Ancient DNA for the MSc in Archaeological Science.

Doctoral Supervision

I am happy to supervise on domestication, phylogenetics, evolutionary genomics, human / animal interactions.

Current students

The epidemiological transition: farming in sickness and in health. What was the extent of the pathogenic burden of Neolithic &Bronze Age populations?
Katherine Hearne | DPhil Archaeology | Supervisors: Greger Larson and Amy Bogaard
Revealing Human-Animal relationships through time via Paleogenetics and Bioarchaeology
Alice Dobinson | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Palaeogenomics and bioarchaeology Form or function? Assessing spatiotemporal variation in selection pressures of domestic dogs.
Lachie Scarsbrook | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Unlocking Basque Uniqueness: A Multifaceted Approach
Valentin Darre | DPhil Archaeology | Supervisors: Rick Schulting and Greger Larson

Past students

Human Influences on Animals from an Ancient DNA Perspective: Case Studies on Chinese Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus), Chinese Leopard Cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), Eurasia Fallow Deer (Dama dama), and Chinese Domestic Pigs (Sus scrofa)
Yu Han (2023) ORA | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Ancient DNA perspectives on pathogen evolution in domestic animals
Evangelos Dimopoulos (2021) ORA | Environmental Research (NERC DTP) - Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Rats, cats and hares: exploring natural and humanly-mediated dispersal through a genetic approach
Alexandra Jamieson (2021) ORA | Environmental Research (NERC DTP) - Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Ancient Shipwrecks and Archaeological Science: Characterising cargo items through stable isotope, organic residue, and DNA analysis
Elizabeth Briggs (2019) ORA | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisors: Damian Robinson and Greger Larson
Palaeogenomics of Animal Domestication: Integrating ancient and modern DNA using bioinformatics and population genetics
Evan Irving-Pease (2019) ORA | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson
Novel Approaches to Assess the Prevalence of Palaeoparasites in European Archaeological Sites
Hannah Ryan (2019) ORA | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisors: Greger Larson and Adrian Smith
Formal Methods for Evolutionary Inference using Ancient DNA
Liisa Loog (2018) ORA | DPhil Archaeological Science | Supervisor: Greger Larson

Key words: bioarchaeology, farming and herding, longue duree, humans and other animals, human evolution, interaction, mobility, all periods, global