WhatsAppDr. Meirav Meiri
Curator of Bioarchaeology, and Head of the Paleogenomics Laboratory
Research associate at the Steinhardt Museum
Dr. Meirav Meiri is a curator of Bioarchaeology and the Head of the Paleogenomics Laboratory at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Meiri received her PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, supervised by Prof. Ian Barnes and Prof. Adrian Lister (both from the Natural History Museum, London). She then completed her postdoctoral studies at Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.
Dr. Meiri's primary interest is in paleogenetics as a powerful tool to unravel the intricate evolutionary relationships among animal and plant species.
Dr. Meiri focuses on their taxonomy, biogeographical distribution, population dynamics, and evolutionary trajectories across time. Utilizing advanced techniques in ancient and modern DNA analysis, she aims to uncover genetic changes and patterns across both temporal and spatial scales.
Research Projects | Paleogenomics Laboratory | Courses
- Taxonomy and phylogeography of extinct Israeli species [e.g., leopard (Panthera pardus), Hartebeest (Alcelaphus sp.), Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius)]
- Revealing lost diversity of Byzantine grapevines in the Negev Desert – link to website: https://www.negevwinerevival.com
- Unravelling the enigma of date palm cultivation in the southern Levantine region – link to website: https://www.bostantree.com
- Modelling Anthropocene trophic cascades of the Judean desert ecosystem: a hidden dimension in the history of human-environment interactions – link to website: https://sites.google.com/view/deadsea-eco/home
- Using Paleogenomics as a Tool to Identify the Contents of Ancient Pottery
| The Paleogenomics Laboratory at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, opened in 2021, is a state-of-the-art clean room designed for the extraction and amplification of genetic material from a wide range of archaeological and museum specimens. |
- “Quaternary Extinctions – Why? How many? Where? and how do we know it?”, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, 2024.
- “Human and Animals relationship: bones & ancient DNA”, MSc. and PhD course, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 2021-2022.
