After 15 years of conducting archaeological fieldwork and ancient DNA research in the Upper Mustang of Nepal, Christina Warinner - a research group leader in the Department of Archaeogenetics at the MPI-EVA - returned to Nepal in March 2024 to deliver the results of her team's ancient DNA findings on human population history, pathogen history, and food fermentation history in the High Himalayas. She was accompanied by MPI-EVA PhD student Megan Michel and postdoc Maxime Borry, as well as Seoul National University PhD student Juhyeon Lee and Professor Emeritus Mark Aldenderfer of UC Merced.

The team shared their results at two university symposia hosted by Tribhuvan University and Pokhara University, met and discussed their results with Tibetan descendant communities through the Lo Gyalpo Jigme Foundation, presented their results to the ambassador’s staff at the US Embassy, and partnered with three K-12 schools to provide science-themed classroom activities to more than 180 students at the Ullens School and Rato Bangala School in Kathmandu, and at the Himalayan Buddhist Academy in Pokhara, Nepal.

A photo album of the events is available here.

Contact:

Dr. Christina Warinner
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
christina_warinner@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Sandra Jacob
Press Officer
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
+49 341 3550-122
jacob@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de