William Aylward
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Classics, Faculty Member
- Web site in developmentedit
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) is a globally distributed, obligate pathogen of humans that can be divided into seven clearly defined lineages. An emerging consensus places the origin and global dispersal of M.tb within the past 6,000... more
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) is a globally distributed, obligate pathogen of humans that can be divided into seven clearly defined lineages. An emerging consensus places the origin and global dispersal of M.tb within the past 6,000 years: identifying how the ancestral clone of M.tb spread and differentiated within this timeframe is important for identifying the ecological drivers of the current pandemic. We used Bayesian phylogeographic inference to reconstruct the migratory history of M.tb in Africa and Eurasia and to investigate lineage specific patterns of spread from a geographically diverse sample of 552 M.tb genomes. Applying evolutionary rates inferred with ancient M.tb genome calibration, we estimated the timing of major events in the migratory history of the pathogen. Inferred timings contextualize M.tb dispersal within historical phenomena that altered patterns of connectivity throughout Africa and Eurasia: trans-Indian Ocean trade in spices and other goods, the Silk Road and its predecessors, the expansion of the Roman Empire, and the European Age of Exploration. We found that Eastern Africa and Southeast Asia have been critical in the dispersal of M.tb. Our results further reveal that M.tb populations have grown through range expansion, as well as in situ, and delineate the independent evolutionary trajectories of bacterial subpopulations underlying the current pandemic.
Research Interests:
Results of excavations in the Sanctuary of the Chthonian Deities at Agrigento in 2018.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Aylward, W. 2014. Conservation, in: Ulrich, R.B. and C.K. Quenemoen, eds., The Blackwell Companion to Roman Architecture. 462-479. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 9781405199643
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article presents the first systematic analysis of the fortification wall that protected Ilion in Hellenistic and Roman times. The primary model for understanding the size, extent, and appearance of the wall has thus far been the plan... more
This article presents the first systematic analysis of the fortification wall that protected Ilion in Hellenistic and Roman times. The primary model for understanding the size, extent, and appearance of the wall has thus far been the plan of Ilion's Lower City published by Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1902. A century later, a substantial amount of new information merits reconsideration of Dörpfeld's reconstruction of the city wall. The revised reconstruction of the wall published here represents the interpretation of new data compiled through a number of methods, including autopsy of the site topography and the wall's structural remains by the authors, as well as excavation, geophysical survey, and photography from space. It also includes unpublished information about the wall from the University of Cincinnati campaign to Troia in the 1930s. The revised reconstruction comes with a new understanding of the functional relationship between the city and its fortifications. For example, Dörpfeld's trace had a length of about 3,500 m, and it enclosed an area of about 60 ha. It is now clear that the protected area was probably about 72 ha., enclosed by a wall about 3,600 m long. In addition, the fortification wall and the Athena temenos portico on the acropolis were certainly part of a programmatic urban design scheme that extended across the Upper and Lower City of Ilion. The revised trace also reinforces the notion that, like their Bronze Age predecessors, the Ilians had an acute awareness of topography, bedrock, and water supply in designing their city's fortification system.