The study of human migration since the Bronze Age is ready for a new view as archeological studies incorporate ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of human, animal and plant remains, pathogens and the systematic use of big data. Prior archeology revolutions occurred with the advent of radiocarbon dating (1950s) and stable isotope analysis (1980s) and contributed to the understanding of who moved and when [1]. Using these methods, archeologists and historians sought to understand whether the few or the many contribute their ideas, genes or both to the creation of new communities, languages and material cultures or the transformation of existing ones. Future insights will be derived not only from the studies of texts, funerary inscriptions and practices, grave goods, settlement patterns, and stable isotope analysis of human, faunal and floral remains, but also from aDNA. On 3–7 September 2018, historians, archeologists, physical anthropologists, and geneticists subjected these methods to scrutiny at a conference at the Lorentz Center at Leiden University. Though their presentations and discussions, they agreed that a consilience view of human migration might be derived from comparative analysis [2]. Several takeaways were provided that can inform the genetics community.

Sometimes groups can be identified through their specific material culture or, if inscriptions are available, through the self-identity that emerges from such texts, which sometimes includes references to place of origin [3]. Groups can also be identified by cluster analysis of biological data (e.g., based on single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and identical-by-descent (IBD) segments) and strontium and oxygen isotope data can provide insights on lifetime mobility [4]. Statistical methods that have been applied to genetic data to define contemporary groups (e.g., genetic distances, principal component analysis ADMIXTURE analysis, and three-population and four-population tests) are also applicable to ancient groups. However, results have to be interpreted with caution. Outliers may be representative of migrants (a scenario that can, in turn, be tested by isotopic analyses), hybrid ancestry or a broader representation of group membership than was previously characterized. Outliers within isotopic group analysis are commonly thought to represent migrants, although the place of migration may be difficult to establish in the absence of isotopic maps relating to the pertinent timeframes [4].

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