Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (0)341 3550 - 315
fax: +49 (0)341 3550 - 333
e-mail: cissewski@eva.mpg.de
Adam Powell

Senior Researcher
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
E-mail: adam_powell@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Office: level 1, room b1.11
Research interests
I work on the interactions between human genetic and cultural evolutionary systems, integrating methods and data from population genetics, archaeogenetics, archaeology, anthropology and historical linguistics to understand human population history. I develop integrated simulation and statistical inference methods, aiming to build a unified gene-culture coevolutionary framework for human demographic inference. I am a member of the Theory in Cultural Evolution Lab based in HBEC, and lead the ERC-funded research project Waves, focusing on the population history of the South Pacific.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT
2019 to present | Senior Scientist / ERC Research Group Leader Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Leipzig, Germany |
2015 to 2019 | Research Group Leader: Gene-culture Coevolution Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution & Department of Archaeogenetics Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Jena, Germany |
2013 to 2015 | Postdoctoral Research Associate Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Anthropology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany |
2010 to 2012 | Postdoctoral Research Associate UCL Genetics Institute, University College London (UCL), UK |
2006 to 2010 | PhD in Population genetics “Demography and the evolution of genetic and cultural variation” Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment (GEE), University College London (UCL), London, UK |
1999 to 2003 | BSc in Mathematics (Honours) University of Exeter, Exeter, UK |
GRANTS & AWARDS
2018 | Waves of history in the South Pacific: A gene-culture coevolutionary approach. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (758967), PI, €1,500,000 |
2018 | INTERACT: Human interactions during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Western Europe: The dual perspectives of cultural and biological exchanges. ANR-DFG, PIs Marie-France Deguilloux & Dr Wolfgang Haak, co-investigator, €671,562 |
2018 | Waves of Change: Human migration and adaptation in prehistoric Indonesia. Marsden Fund, New Zealand (18-UOO-135), PI Dr Rebecca Kinaston, associate investigator, NZD 300,000 |
2018 | Em busca de pegadas invisíveis: para um modelo multidisciplinar de difusão das línguas Khoe-Kwadi e do pastoralismo na África Austral. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (29273), PI Jorge Rocha, co-investigator, €237,464 |
2010 | 1st prize award, Postgraduate Symposium, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, UCL |
2006 | 4-year PhD studentship, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, UCL |
Publications
Posth, C., Nägele, K., Colleran, H., Valentin, F., Bedford, S., Gray, R. D., Krause, J., & Powell, A. (2019). Response to “Ancient DNA and its contribution to understanding the human history of the Pacific Islands” (Bedford et al. 2018). Archaeology in Oceania,54, 57-61. ![]() |
Kandler, A., & Powell, A. (2018). Generative inference for cultural evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences,373(1743): 20170056. ![]() | |
Posth, C., Nägele, K., Colleran, H., Valentin, F., Bedford, S., Kami, K. W., Shing, R., Buckley, H., Kinaston, R., Walworth, M., Clark, G. R., Reepmeyer, C., Flexner, J., Maric, T., Moser, J., Gresky, J., Kiko, L., Robson, K. J., Auckland, K., Oppenheimer, S. J., Hill, A. V. S., Mentzer, A. J., Zech, J., Petchey, F., Roberts, P., Jeong, C., Gray, R. D., Krause, J., & Powell, A. (2018). Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania. Nature Ecology & Evolution,2(4), 731-740. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Unterländer, M., Palstra, F., Lazaridis, I., Pilipenko, A., Hofmanová, Z., Groß, M., Sell, C., Blöcher, J., Kirsanow, K., Rohland, N., Rieger, B., Kaiser, E., Schier, W., Pozdniakov, D., Khokhlov, A., Georges, M., Wilde, S., Powell, A., Heyer, E., Currat, M., Reich, D., Samashev, Z., Parzinger, H., & Burger, V. I. M. &. J. (2017). Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe. Nature Communications,8: 14615. ![]() |
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Derex, M., Kline, M. A., Mesoudi, A., Muthukrishna, M., Powell, A., Shennan, S. J., & Thomas, M. G. (2016). Understanding cumulative cultural evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,113(44), E6724-E6725. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Posth, C., Renaud, G., Mittnik, A., Drucker, D. G., Rougier, H., Cupillard, C., Valentin, F., Thevenet, C., Furtwängler, A., Wißing, C., Francken, M., Malina, M., Bolus, M., Lari, M., Gigli, E., Capecchi, G., Crevecoeur, I., Beauval, C., Flas, D., Germonpré, M., van der Plicht, J., Cottiaux, R., Gély, B., Ronchitelli, A., Wehrberger, K., Grigorescu, D., Svoboda, J., Semal, P., Caramelli, D., Bocherens, H., Harvati, K., Conard, N. J., Haak, W., Powell, A., & Krause, J. (2016). Pleistocene mitochondrial genomes suggest a single major dispersal of non-Africans and a late glacial population turnover in Europe. Current Biology,26(6), 827-833. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Kandler, A., & Powell, A. (2015). Inferring learning strategies from cultural frequency data. In A. Mesoudi, & K. Aoki ( DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Scheu, A., Powell, A., Bollongino, R., Vigne, J.-D., Tresset, A., Çakırlar, C., Benecke, N., & Burger, J. (2015). The genetic prehistory of domesticated cattle from their origin to the spread across Europe. BMC Genetics,16: 54. ![]() |
Kamberov, Y. G., Wang, S., Tan, J., Gerbault, P., Wark, A., Tan, L., Yang, Y., Li, S., Tang, K., Chen, H., Powell, A., Itan, Y., Fuller, D., Lohmueller, J., Mao, J., Schachar, A., Paymer, M., Hostetter, E., Byrne, E., Burnett, M., McMahon, A. P., Thomas, M. G., Lieberman, D. E., Jin, L., Tabin, C. J., Morgan, B. A., & Sabeti, P. C. (2013). Modeling recent human evolution in mice by expression of a selected EDAR variant. Cell,152(4), 691-702. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Bollongino, R., Nehlich, O., Richards, M. P., Orschiedt, J., Thomas, M. G., Sell, C., Fajkošová, Z., Powell, A., & Burger, J. (2013). 2000 years of parallel societies in Stone Age Central Europe. Science,342(6157), 479-481. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Gavin, M., Botero, C. A., Bowern, C., Colwell, R. K., Dunn, M., Dunn, R. R., Gray, R. D., Kirby, K. R., McCarter, J., Powell, A., Rangel, T. F., Steppe, J. R., Trautwein, M., Verdolin, J. L., & Yanega, G. (2013). Towards a mechanistic understanding of linguistic diversity. Bioscience,63, 524-535. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Gerbault, P., Powell, A., & Thomas, M. G. (2012). Evaluating demographic models for goat domestication using mtDNA sequences. Anthropozoologica,47(2), 64-76. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Bollongino, R., Burger, J., Powell, A., Mashkour, M., Vigne, J.-D., & Thomas, M. G. (2012). Modern Taurine cattle descended from small number of Near-Eastern founders. Molecular Biology and Evolution,29(9), 2101-2104. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Brace, S., Barnes, I., Powell, A., PEarson, R., Woolaver, L. G., Thomas, M. G., & Turvey, S. T. (2012). Population history of the Hispaniolan hutia Plagiodontia aedium (Rodentia: Capromyidae): Testing the model of ancient differentiation on a geotectonically complex Caribbean island. Molecular Ecology,21(9), 2239-2253. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Gerbault, P., Liebert, A., Itan, Y., Powell, A., Currat, M., Burger, J., Swallow, D. M., & Thomas, M. G. (2011). Evolution of lactase persistence: An example of human niche construction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,366(1566), 863-877. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
Veeramah, K. R., Connell, B. A., Pour, N. A., Powell, A., Plaster, C. A., Zeitlyn, D., Mendell, N. R., Weale, M. E., Bradman, N., & Thomas, M. G. (2010). Little genetic differentiation as assessed by uniparental markers in the presence of substantial language variation in peoples of the Cross River region of Nigeria. BMC Evolutionary Biology,10: 92. ![]() |
Itan, Y., Powell, A., Beaumont, M. A., Burger, J., & Thomas, M. G. (2009). The origins of lactase persistence in Europe. PLoS Computational Biology,5(8): e1000491. ![]() | |
Powell, A., Shennan, S., & Thomas, M. G. (2009). Late pleistocene demography and the appearance of modern human behavior. Science,324(5932), 1298-1301. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Powell, A., Thomas, M. G., & Shennan, S. J. (2009). Demography and variation in the accumulation of culturally inherited skills. In M. J. O'Brian, & S. J. Shennan ( BibTeX Endnote |