Autoren:	Zedda, Nicoletta Meheux, Katie Blöcher, Jens Diekmann, Yoan Gorelik, Alexander V. Kalle, Martin Klein, Kevin Titze, Anna-Lena Winkelbach, Laura Naish, Elise Brou, Laurent Valotteau, François Le Brun-Ricalens, Foni Burger, Joachim Brami, Maxime
Titel:	Biological and substitute parents in Beaker period adult–child graves
Online-Publikationsdatum:	15-Dez-2023
Erscheinungsdatum:	2023
Sprache des Dokuments:	Englisch
Zusammenfassung/Abstract:	Joint inhumations of adults and children are an intriguing aspect of the shift from collective to single burial rites in third millennium BC Western Eurasia. Here, we revisit two exceptional Beaker period adult–child graves using ancient DNA: Altwies in Luxembourg and Dunstable Downs in Britain. Ancestry modelling and patterns of shared IBD segments between the individuals examined, and contemporary genomes from Central and Northwest Europe, highlight the continental connections of British Beakers. Although simultaneous burials may involve individuals with no social or biological ties, we present evidence that close blood relations played a role in shaping third millennium BC social systems and burial practices, for example a biological mother and her son buried together at Altwies. Extended family, such as a paternal aunt at Dunstable Downs, could also act as ‘substitute parents’ in the grave. Hypotheses are explored to explain such simultaneous inhumations. Whilst intercommunity violence, infectious disease and epidemics may be considered as explanations, they fail to account for both the specific, codified nature of this particular form of inhumation, and its pervasiveness, as evidenced by a representative sample of 131 adult–child graves from 88 sites across Eurasia, all dating to the third and second millennia BC.
DDC-Sachgruppe:	570 Biowissenschaften 570 Life sciences 930 Alte Geschichte 930 History of ancient world
Veröffentlichende Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Organisationseinheit:	FB 07 Geschichts- u. Kulturwissensch. FB 10 Biologie
Veröffentlichungsort:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9803
Version:	Published version
Publikationstyp:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Nutzungsrechte:	CC BY
Informationen zu den Nutzungsrechten:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Zeitschrift:	Scientific reports 13
Seitenzahl oder Artikelnummer:	18765
Verlag:	Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
Verlagsort:	London
Erscheinungsdatum:	2023
ISSN:	2045-2322
DOI der Originalveröffentlichung:	10.1038/s41598-023-45612-3
Enthalten in den Sammlungen:	DFG-491381577-G