EAA2021: Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in archaeogenetics have not only produced ground-breaking new insights into the deep past, but also raised the risk of reinforcing biological determinism in the constitution of social structure. Whereas New Kinship Studies have demonstrated the usual complexity of “feeling related”, the challenge of tracing such “feelings” in the archaeological record has instigated us to emphasize the notion of “biologically related”. However, we need to take into account that past human world views were shaped by completely different assumptions about being human in the world and that present-day world views shaped by current scientific knowledge present only one way of understanding belonging. In my paper, I will first present my approach to linking scientific and archaeological datasets in order to understand the dynamics of social belonging out of the dialogue of genes and social practices like gender, age, mobility, nutrition and status. Subsequently, I will discuss case studies from Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, where bioarchaeological datasets have recently enabled fascinating new insights into past social structures. Finally, I aim to show how we might use these datasets to take a further step towards the understanding of past social belonging and consequently past world views.

Bioarchaeology, Bronze Age, Social Belonging, Social Practices, Biological Relatedness, New Kinship Studies

 Abstract (PDF)

Philipp W. Stockhammer^1,2