Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas has worked extensively on understanding how humans have evolved and migrated around the World. He has used genetic data – including ancient DNA – computer simulations and archaeological information to examined the origins and past migrations of a number of specific human populations including Jewish and Judaic groups, British populations and a number of enigmatic European and African peoples. In recent years he has worked on using 14C data as a proxy for past demography, on modelling cultural evolution to better understand the origins of modern human behaviour, and to examine ethnic structuring in past populations, on recent natural selection using genetic data – particularly in relation to diet and infectious disease – and on gene-culture co-evolution, particularly the origins of lactase persistence and dairying in Europe and Africa.