Looking For Londoners

4th February 2016

On 4 February, 2016, members and guests enjoyed a visit to the Museum of London where curators, led by Dr Rebecca Redfern, have been studying the DNA of Londinium’s Roman inhabitants to reveal that London was an ethnically diverse city even then. This is the first multidisciplinary study of the inhabitants of a Roman city anywhere in the Empire. Through the analysis of ancient DNA of four different individuals, curators have been able to establish the hair and eye colour of each individual, and their chromosomal sex, and to identify the diseases they were suffering from. 

A talk by Dr Redfern was followed by a visit to the exhibition.