Roots of Europe Summer Seminar 7–12 August 2018

Languages and migrations in pre-historic Europe

Roots of Europe Summer Seminar
at NorS and the National Museum of Denmark
7–12 August 2018

Linguists, archaeologists and geneticists dig into Europe’s prehistoric past in a new, cross-disciplinary collaboration

Prehistory – defined as the time period before the emergence of written records – has traditionally been explored and described by archaeologists. Historical linguists as well have reconstructed language stages deep into prehistory, despite the lack of written records. Due to the new revolutionary methods emerging in the natural sciences – in particular the discovery of ancient DNA and strontium isotopes – archaeologists and archaeolinguists are now able to compare and connect their findings with unprecedented precision. As a result, we have an increasingly complex and vivid idea of Europe’s Neolithic and Bronze-Age populations: their languages, migrations, mutual warfare, religion, mythology and social organization.
These are the topics to be presented and discussed by a panel of internationally leading experts.

The organizers

The RoE Summer Seminar is a collaboration between the National Museum of Denmark and Roots of Europe, a research center at the University of Copenhagen devoted to tying together the linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence of Europe’s prehistoric past, beginning with the Late Neolithic and moving into the Bronze Age.

Call for ph.d. papers

The programme has five slots for ph.d. students from any of the relevant fields who wish to attend the seminar as part of their ph.d. programme. Ph.d. students are invited to present papers relating their research to the over-all topic of the seminar. Participation is free for the selected ph.d. students. For more info on how to submit your paper and how to sign up, please read here.

Who can attend?

All talks will be open to the public; to attend the talks at the museum, visitors must pay the museum’s entrance fee.
Participants wishing to take part in lunches and coffee breaks and obtain free access to the museum during the seminar must sign up at the KU Webshop. The deadline is 15 July

Of related interest

Unlike in previous years, the Roots of Europe does not offer a summer school; but we would like to draw your attention to the Archaeomics Summer School that takes place in the week just following the seminar at the department of GeoGenetics.

Programme and additional info:


We hope to see you this summer,

Best regards,

Lasse Sørensen
Head of Research and Collections
Benedicte Nielsen Whitehead
Academic assistant


Besøg Nationalmuseets hjemmeside

Danmarks og Middelhavslandenes Oldtid/Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean

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