Aram Yardumian

Visiting Scholar
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Bio

As a member of the Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, I am at work on a large-scale genomic survey of Georgia (Caucasus), and am currently engaged in collecting human DNA samples from individuals in western Georgia (Samegrelo, Svaneti, Guria, Adjara, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Imereti), which we use for analysis of mtDNA, Y-chromosome, and autosomal variation.  My primary interest in this work is to provide a clearer diachronic perspective on the population histories of this complex region, specifically the impact of Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic settlers in the region, as well as the interactions between Caucasus populations and those of Anatolia, Iran, and the Mediterranean region.  To date, I have, in collaboration with colleagues from UPenn and Georgian universities, collected nearly 700 samples from the combined region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti.  We have published this data in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Yardumian et al. 2017) and in the Penn Museum's in-house magazine, Expedition (59:1, 2017).  

Education

Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2015
M.A. English, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2005

Research Interests

Subject areas: Human evolutionary genetics, human dispersals, ancient history, archaeology   Geographic areas: Caucasus, Anatolia, Middle East, India

Interests

Geographical Area