Overview

URKO is a research initiative that focuses on studying the linguistic, genetic and cultural diversity of humans that inhabit the Uralic language speaking area. URKO has three objectives:

1. To build three data frontends for digital humanities:

• Typological data of Uralic languages
• Geographical data of the speaking areas of Uralic languages
• Data about archaeological findings from Finland

2. To study the human past in the Uralic speaker area (see map)
3. To participate in academic education by producing material related to the multidisciplinary study of human history

URKO is associated with University of Turku’s collaborative research of cultural memory and societal change. URKO is also one of the research initiatives of the Academy of Finland that strives to advance digital humanities. URKO is based on earlier collaborative research projects of its participants, and is the first collaborative project for the planned research center of cultural and biological diversity.