This program, which addresses questions of paleopathology and paleoepidemiology, deals with the health status of populations in the past and as such represents an important federating area for the team. In particular, it addresses the estimation of the impact of infections (visible or invisible on the bone) on the general health of immatures, in collaboration with colleagues of the GENGLOBE team (Hommes-Microbes project). This component on immatures, started in 2021, runs until 2025.
Projects
In this project, we focus on the study of evolution from a functional perspective, specifically focusing on the biological and behavioral changes that made efficient starch metabolism possible.
This research project devoted to evolutionary approaches is essentially from a functional perspective. This is a major and very dynamic issue in paleoanthropology research at the international level. We will pursue the deployment of modelling, simulation and biomechanical analysis approaches, as well as genomic approaches (in particular in collaboration with the GENGLOBE team), developed in the framework of national and international collaborations.
In close collaboration with colleagues from the GENGLOBE team (project "History of human-microbe interactions"), this project will focus on reconstructing and better understanding ancient epidemics. Both diachronic (from the metal ages to contemporary populations) and on a large geographical scale, this project will open to a strong international development.
The patrimonialization of the VAB, as approached by the SHS (archaeology, social anthropology and law), questions in particular the conflicts of use and appropriation of these remains. The BONES team is a forerunner in these issues and has been involved in the implementation and management of the PAOHCE Project (working group on the implementation of protocols for sampling and analysis of human bones and on the conservation of samples) since 2020 thanks to Y. Ardagna.
This project, led by Harilanto Razafindrazaka (PhD, CR CNRS), follows a tradition of the laboratory which is the study of the genetic diversity of the populations of the Indian Ocean including the Comoros and Madagascar.
One of the specificities of our species is its great cultural diversity which, in the same way as genes, is transmitted from generation to generation, which raises the question: how do cultural differences between human populations interact with their biological diversity and vice versa?
Given its medical implications, which will be seen elsewhere, and in the light of high-throughput genomic sequencing, this project proposes an expert re-reading of the molecular genetics of immunogenic polymorphisms (erythrocyte blood group systems and systems involved in the immune response) with a view to contributing both to the understanding of the history and evolution of modern humans and to the evolutionary history of these genes in order to outline their phylogeny.