This episode focuses on ancient parasites as a glimpse into the life of past populations. With the help of modern genomics and bio-informatics, the study of parasite samples from archaeological sites can reveal patterns about sanitation, mobility, diet and other cultural aspects of past societies. 

Dr. Patrik Flammer, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, speaks about a collaborative project sampling intestinal helminths ( a type of parasitic worm), from medieval graveyard sites across the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. 

We discuss the challenges of studying ancient DNA (aDNA), the information that parasite identity and diversity can provide and the "hygiene hypothesis",  briefly exploring how decreased prevalence of parasites has been linked to a rise in allergies and auto-immune diseases.

The study about the Epidemiology of Intestinal Helminths in Medieval Europe (Open Access) https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0008600

Another study using archaeoparasitology to illuminate trading patterns in Medieval Lübeck ( Open Access) https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.0991

Link to Dr Patrik Flammer and Dr Adrian Smith's profiles to get into contact

https://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-patrik-flammer#/

https://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-adrian-smith#/

An article about Composting Human Remains : https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/everything-youre-afraid-to-ask-about-human-composting