The 'Genetics Turn' in Disease History: What It Means to 'Retrospectively Diagnose' in an Age of Evolutionary Pathogen Histories

This is an abbreviated summary of arguments presented at the session "Medical Modernities" organized by the Society for Ancient Medicine and Pharmacology at the Society for Classical Studies 2025 meeting in Philadelphia. The essay summarizes some of the key ways that the history of infectious diseases can now draw on results from the scientific fields of bioarchaeology and palaeogenomics to reconstruct narratives across time and even across species. However, even these results are limited, making constructive dialogue across many disciplines involved in disease history (including the humanities) crucial to further progress in the field.