Abstract
Background: This study relies on the discovery of two pit burials (LTA and LTB) of the Bronze Age Cogotas I archaeological culture (circa 3600–2950 BP) in Spain. LTA was a single burial and LTB contained three skeletal remains of two adults and a newborn or foetus at term.
Aim: The central question posed by this find was whether the LTB tomb constituted a traditional nuclear family (father, mother and son or daughter).
Methods: Ancient and forensic DNA protocols were employed to obtain reliable results. Autosomal, X-STR markers and mitochondrial DNA were amplified. Subsequently, different kinship probabilities were estimated by means of LR values calculated using the Familias 3 software. Furthermore, an allelic dropout sensitivity test was developed in order to evaluate the influence of allelic dropout phenomena on the results.
Results: It was possible to determine the molecular sex of all individuals and to establish a maternal relationship between the perinatal individual and one of the adults.
Conclusion: The remains in the LTB tomb were not a traditional nuclear family (father, mother and son/daughter) and it was probably a tomb where two women, one of them pregnant, were buried.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work has been possible by the projects HAR2009–10105 and HAR2013–43851-P funded MINECO (Spanish Government) and BES2010–035322FPI grant.