title: The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited: the bronze age burial of Montanissell Cave (Spain) in the light of aDNA.
abstract: Ancient populations have commonly been thought to have lived in small groups where extreme endogamy was the norm. To contribute to this debate, a genetic analysis has been carried out on a collective burial with eight primary inhumations from Montanissell Cave in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees. Radiocarbon dating clearly placed the burial in the Bronze Age, around 3200 BP. The composition of the group-two adults (one male, one female), one young woman, and five children from both sexes-seemed to represent the structure of a typical nuclear family. The genetic evidence proves this assumption to be wrong. In fact, at least five out of the eight mitochondrial haplotypes were different, denying the possibility of a common maternal ancestor for all of them. Nevertheless, 50% of the inhumations shared haplogroup J, so the possibility of a maternal relationship cannot be ruled out. Actually, combining different analyses performed using ancient and living populations, the probability of having four related J individuals in Montanissell Cave would range from 0.9884 to 0.9999. Owing to the particularities of this singular collective burial (small number of bodies placed altogether in a hidden cave, the evidence of non-simultaneous interments, close dating and unusual grave goods), we suggest that it might represent a small group with a patrilocal mating system.
authors.affiliation: GROB. Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Department Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simón
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jordana
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Armentano
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Eduvigis
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solórzano
authors.forename: Joan B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González-Ruiz
authors.forename: Assumpció
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malgosa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001106:Archaeology; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D059552:Caves; D055699:Cemeteries; D002648:Child; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000266:history*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D055110:Radiometric Dating; D013030:Spain; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA