The legacy of Luca Cavalli-Sforza on human evolution

Margherita Colucci; Michela Leonardi; Jason A. Hodgson; Chris Stringer; Eleanor M. L. Scerri

doi:10.47248/hpgg2505010001

Human Population Genetics and Genomics 2025;5(1):0001 | https://doi.org/10.47248/hpgg2505010001

Perspective Open Access

The legacy of Luca Cavalli-Sforza on human evolution

Margherita Colucci ^1,2,† , Michela Leonardi ^2,3,† , Jason A. Hodgson ⁴ , Chris Stringer ⁵ , Eleanor M. L. Scerri ^1,6,7

1. Human Palaeosystems Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK
3. Natural History Museum, London, South Kensington, SW7 5BD, London, UK
4. Faculty of Science and Engineering, Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Rd, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
5. Centre for Human Evolution Research, Natural History Museum, London, South Kensington, SW7 5BD, London, UK
6. Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, MSD 2080, Msida, Malta
7. Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne 0020, Germany

† These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence: Margherita Colucci; Michela Leonardi; Eleanor M. L. Scerri

Academic Editor(s): Lounès Chikhi

Received: Jul 15, 2024 | Accepted: Feb 4, 2025 | Published: Feb 13, 2025

Cite this article: Colucci M, Leonardi M, Hodgson J, Stringer C, Scerri E. The legacy of Luca Cavalli-Sforza on human evolution. Hum Popul Genet Genom 2025; 5(1):0001. https://doi.org/10.47248/hpgg2505010001

Abstract

Archaeology and the branch of population genetics focusing on the human past have historically lived parallel lives, often having complicated encounters when it came to unravelling the origins and evolution of Homo sapiens. These interactions were proven invaluable to obtain a deeper and more complete understanding of our past. At the same time, they sometimes uncovered biases and misinterpretations, with serious consequences for our understanding of data, methods and, most importantly, the history of our species. Cavalli-Sforza pioneered a real multidisciplinary approach, bridging population genetics and statistics with archaeology, human origins, and other fields in the humanities, inspiring researchers from these fields and blazing a trail for today’s successful interactions and collaborations. His legacy showed that these interdisciplinary approaches are possible and of vital importance, and exposed areas that still need significant development today.

Keywords

population genetics, palaeoanthropology, interdisciplinarity, origins of Homo sapiens, bioinformatics, modelling

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