Krish Seetah | AI, Archaeology, and Archives: How Data Science is Helping to Reveal Past Epidemics

At no time in recent memory has the impact of disease on society been more palpable. But how do we study the nexus between society, ecology, and disease? Our team utilizes a precise and novel integration of archaeological, historical, anthropological, climatic, and ancient human and pathogen genetic datasets, using a longitudinal lens to achieve a b etter understanding of disease impact- specifically malaria - over time. Rich, robust, and large datasets are drawn from two regional contexts capturing critical periods in global disease transformations. Data science approaches are used to extricate critical features of the human-malaria relationship over the last 300 years, and despite the research being in the early stages of development, have already revealed key aspects of how socio-political factors influenced the impact of the disease on human lives.