• Explore
  • Learn
  • Partner
  • Success
  • Join
  • Log In

Connect with Facebook Or...

Forgot My Password

View All Projects

RocketHub: Where Artists, Entrepreneurs, Scientists, Philantropists and other Awesome Creatives Succeed.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • Extra Credits

  • Launch:

    James Portnow, Seattle-based game designer and co-creator of Extra Credits, a web series on pro-social game design.

  • Fund:

    Raised over $125,000 from over 4,000 people.

  • Fly:

    James and Extra Credits were featured at SXSW, Gamasutra, and the homepage of Reddit.

  • AFIA

  • Launch:

    Meghan Sebold, Brooklyn-based social entrepreneur and designer.

  • Fund:

    Raised $5,000 for a sustainable clothing line that uses the textiles and talent of Ghana, West Africa.

  • Fly:

    Her fashion line, AFIA was featured in EcoSalon, TreeHugger, Refinery29, and is now available in boutiques across NYC.

  • Aram Bajakian

  • Launch:

    Aram Bajakian, NYC-based avant-garde guitar player.

  • Fund:

    Raised $4,000 from fans and strangers to fund his album.

  • Fly:

    Lou Reed heard Aram and chose him as his new guitarist while Aram's album is now released by John Zorn's Tzadik record label.

  • Here and There

  • Launch:

    Darko Lungulov, Serbia-based award winning international filmmaker.

  • Fund:

    Raised $9,000 from movie buffs for feature film project Here and There.

  • Fly:

    Film won "Best New York Narrative" at Tribeca Film Festival, featured in Variety, L.A. Times, New York Times, and was a top-10 indie box office theatrical release.

  • When Last We Flew

  • Launch:

    When Last We Flew, NYC-based Off-Broadway theatrical production team.

  • Fund:

    Raised $7,000 from theatre fans for the premiere Off-Broadway run.

  • Fly:

    Show sold-out at NYC Fringe Festival, won a GLAAD Media Award, and was featured in New York Times, Bloomberg, and American Theatre Magazine.

  • Through the Looking Glass

  • Launch:

    Regan Wann, Kentucky-based small business owner.

  • Fund:

    Raised $5,000 to expand her tea shop business.

  • Fly:

    RocketHub campaign featured in the Wall Street Journal exposing her business to millions.

  • Paris in HDR

  • Launch:

    Laura Boyd, NYC-based portrait and landscape photographer.

  • Fund:

    Raised $6,000 architectural photography project on location in Paris.

  • Fly:

    Photos featured in Artsicle Photography Show in the heart of Chelsea, NYC via LaunchPad.

  • NONVIOLENCE

  • Launch:

    Joshua Reuben Lewis, NYC-based singer-songwriter.

  • Fund:

    Raised $7,500 to record his first album.

  • Fly:

    Showcased at The Gibson Showroom and made A&R connections at Sony, Warner Music Group, and EMI via LaunchPad.

  • Paul Davis Collection

  • Launch:

    Paul Davis, Berlin-based fashion designer.

  • Fund:

    Raised $8,000 from fans and strangers for a new fashion line.

  • Fly:

    Clothing line featured at Berlin Fashion Week.

  • Big Puzzle, One Piece

  • Launch:

    Caira Conner, Tennessee based NYU Master of Science.

  • Fund:

    Raised $2,000 to study Brazilian land and infrastructure development.

  • Fly:

    Featured in Americas Quarterly, completed innovative research, and submitted successful academic thesis.

Launch Your Crowdfunding Project Hide

RocketHub

  • Explore
  • Science

In Partnership With:

SciFund Partner Project
Share this project with others

Share Project Link:

Embed this Project:


Icon-info Share this widget on your site or blog by copying and pasting the code above. Need a little help? Reach out to us. Hide
  • $6,000 Campaign Goal
  • $10,171 Raised So Far (170%)
  • Raised So Far: 170% Support Status
  • Time Remaining: 0% Time Remaining
  • 170 Fuelers
  • 172 Contributions
  • Successful

Rewards

Fuel $5 or more:

Any contribution of $5 receives: Donors at this level and above get acknowledged on project website 4 Fuelers!

Fuel $10 or more:

Any contribution of $10 receives: Donors at this level and above get exclusive access to the project's blog and Twitter feeds 16 Fuelers!

Fuel $20 or more:

Any contribution of $20 receives: Donor receives a personalized thank-you Roman skull card from the project director 78 Fuelers!

Fuel $30 or more:

Any contribution of $30 receives: Donors at this level receive a personalized thank-you Roman skull card from the project director... in Latin! 16 Fuelers!

Fuel $50 or more:

Any contribution of $50 receives: Donor receives a set of four postcards, each with a Roman skull 23 Fuelers!

Fuel $100 or more:

Any contribution of $100 receives: Donor receives a set of four blank cards with envelopes, each with a different Roman skull 16 Fuelers!

Fuel $250 or more:

Any contribution of $250 receives: Donor receives a 2012 desk calendar of Roman skeletal remains or a mug with the project logo 4 Fuelers!

Fuel $500 or more:

Any contribution of $500 receives: Donor receives a matted 8x10 photograph of a sectioned Roman tooth (in prep for analysis) or a tshirt with the project logo

Fuel $1,000 or more:

Any contribution of $1,000 receives: Donor receives his or her choice of one of the rewards and is acknowledged by name in the publication 3 Fuelers!

  • Started by Kristina Killgrove October 31st, 2011

    Ancient Roman DNA Project

  • Description
  • About Me
  • Recent Conversations
  • Project Blog

Recent Posts

  • Blog and Twitter Access

Blog and Twitter Access By Kristina Killgrove

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out and funding my project. I'm hoping to start rolling out rewards around Thanksgiving, but the blog is live at RomanDNAProject.org and the Twitter feed is up as well. If you want to follow @RomanDNAProject on Twitter, simply send me a follow request. Eventually the blog will become password protected, and I'll send out an email with the access code when that happens. Thanks again for all your financial and moral support. Without you, this study wouldn't be happening! -Kristina
Posted Nov 4th, 2011 at 03:51 PM EDT
Share on Facebook
Comments (8)
RocketHub Member Photo

Have you tried contacting 23 and Me (www.23andme.com) to see if there's any mutual interest in funding and/or research collaboration?

By Mauro Lollo Nov 11th, 2011 at 01:42 PM EST

Mauro - I considered it but haven't yet contacted them. Fundraising is going so well that I think at this point, we'll be limited by time - extracting ancient DNA is time-consuming. But I'll think about it!

By Kristina Killgrove Nov 11th, 2011 at 03:40 PM EST

RocketHub Member Photo

what type of DNA will you be sequencing? Will you be looking at Y-DNA?

By Paul Roche Nov 11th, 2011 at 07:31 PM EST

Congratulations Kristina! Way to go!

By Shermin de Silva Nov 11th, 2011 at 08:51 PM EST

Paul - we're planning to start with mtDNA, but there's definite interest in doing yDNA at some point as well as sequencing a whole genome.

By Kristina Killgrove Nov 12th, 2011 at 06:05 PM EST

RocketHub Member Photo

Are there many DNA samples from the same time period of people from other areas, like north Africa, Gaul, Germania, Illyricum, farther east,etc. to allow you to compare against and determine region of origin? Is there anything worthwhile to be learned from comparing DNA of moderns living in those areas to the ancient DNA? What, if any, developing technology do you know of or envision that will help garner even more information on these people in future? Are precautions being taken (not just this project but as a norm in the scientific field) to preserve remains so that future advanced technology will have uncontaminated source material to work with? What caused the movement from cremation to burial from republican to imperial Rome? Is this a predictable or cyclical phenomenon in societies as they develop? Thanks for your work in this area, Dr.

By Joy McCracken Nov 15th, 2011 at 10:18 AM EST

Hi, Joy. There are some other DNA studies from similar periods - two in Italy, actually (only one of which has been published so far). With this pilot phase, we're going to look at mitochondrial DNA and work out people's haplogroups - which means we'll be able to tell if someone has genetic background from Africa, Asia, or the Iberian peninsula, for example. Eventually, this project will evolve into studying other types of DNA (such as Y-DNA, which is passed on through the father) and even whole genomes. But there are other isotopes that can be tested as well that might reveal where people were coming from. For DNA analysis, we only need tooth roots, which saves the enamel for isotope work (and saves the bones for palaeo-dietary research), so scientists have found great ways to test one small tooth for multiple isotopes and DNA. In Rome, there were always inhumation burials. Cremation was expensive, since you had to buy a lot of wood. Burial involves just a pit. So inhumation was always a rite for the poor. During the Empire, tradition shifted back for a number of reasons, one of which was the growing interest in Christianity, one of which may have been the growing number of poor, slaves, and freed slaves who made up the population and couldn't afford a fancier burial rite. But as you suggest, burial traditions are often cyclical in societies as well. We can't really predict what will be the dominant burial rite and can't always figure out the proximate cause for the change, though. Thanks for all your questions and your support for the project!

By Kristina Killgrove Nov 15th, 2011 at 10:43 AM EST

RocketHub Member Photo

Hello Kristina, I just contributed a modest amount to your very interesting project. I was wondering two things and I hope you can answer them. First I understand you plan to use mtDNA to determine the haplogroups. I wondered how far your analysis will go. Are you going to do a full mitochondrial sequencing or only the hypervariable region ? Also I wanted to talk about your project to other people, but I'd like to be able to tell them what their money would be used to. Since you already have almost twice more money than what you needed, could you tell what you plan to do with this extra money (or what you could do if you got still some more) : test more samples from the same period, test more samples from older periods, start Y-DNA testing, something else ? Thank you very much for this project. I am quite impatient to see what the results will be. Sincerely, Itaï Perez.

By Perez Nov 27th, 2011 at 02:35 PM EST

Sign in to post a comment


© 2012 RocketHub. All Rights Reserved.

  • Home
  • Projects
  • How it Works
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Help
  • FAQs
  • Terms Of Use
  • Privacy