Kinship Determination in Archeological Contexts Through DNA Analysis

Autor: Stefania Vai, Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim, Martina Lari, David Caramelli
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 8 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2296-701X
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00083
Popis: Knowing kinship relations between individuals in archeological contexts is of great importance to understand social habits and structure in past human communities. Archeological and anthropological analyses of burial sites and skeletal remains often allow us to infer connections between individuals, but only genetic analysis can provide a sound determination of kinship. Several case studies are now available in the literature that show the potentiality and limitations of different methodological approaches based on ancient DNA (aDNA). Both experimental and computational strategies for kinship estimation on ancient samples are described in this review and we argue that, within a multidisciplinary approach, kinship inference contributes to the understanding of the biological and cultural patterns that characterized past societies.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals