Genetic characterization and determination of the number of individuals by molecular analysis in a prehistoric finding

Abstract

The present study focuses on the genetic analysis of skeletal human remains exhumed from a ritual burial located in Los Cercados Chalcolithic site (3970 ± 60 BP) (Valladolid, Central Spain). In this burial different pottery and animal remains were found, configuring a complex ritual, accompanied by scarce human remains, concretely a maxilla and three skulls without maxilla. The most striking aspect of these human remains was the different impact trauma signs on the back side of the skulls. The anthropological analysis established that the skulls were typical feminine, The bad state of preservation of the maxilla did not allowed to assign this to any of the three skulls. So, it was not possible to determine the number of individuals by anthropological methodology. However, we could determine the number of individuals by the genetic analysis of autosomal STRs and mitochondrial DNA on the skeletal remains. It was possible to assign the maxilla to one of other three human skulls. On the other hand, we have been able to verify the sex of each individual by molecular analysis. Finally, a kinship analysis among the individuals was performed using a specific software (Familias 3.0), resulting in a possible sibling relationship between two of the individuals.