post-Roman aDNA from Worth Matravers, England
Evidence for kinship can be hard to discern in the archaeological record. Here we used ancient DNA to investigate biological relatedness and possible kinship at the post-Roman site of Worth Matravers, Dorset. We found that both biological and social kinship were involved in determining burial patterns, but also that biological kinship correlated almost exclusively with matrilineal descent. Whilst most individuals had local British ancestry, some carried Continental signatures, and one young male, buried following local practices, carried recent West African ancestry, highlighting the diverse heritage of early medieval Britain.