EAA2021: Abstract
Abstract is part of session #468:
Title & Content
Title:
Genetic methods in archaeological research
( Funded by government grant No. 075-15-2019-1879)
( Funded by government grant No. 075-15-2019-1879)
Content:
The introduction of genetic methods in archaeological research, has brought the studies of blood relations and social hierarchies of archeological societies to a new level. The results obtained by these methods have often the force of irrefutable facts. However, it may be quite useful to remember that cultural and historical interpretations are impossible without detailed analyses and examinations of archaeological sites, the only sources of information about prehistoric individuals and entire ethno-cultural communities.
To illustrate, the genetic analysis of twenty individuals from five burial mounds of the Scythian era located in the Sayan Highlands indicated that thirteen of them were first-degree relatives [Mary, et al., 2020]. In another work the examination of a Hunnic necropolis in Mongolia has allowed to establish that it comprised the representatives of five generations of two family clans buried in the same necropolis [Keyser et al., 2020]. Unfortunately, these and a number of similar articles discuss only the results of the work of geneticists. They shed no light on the planigraphy of the kurgan groups under study or on the analysis of their burial structures; there is no data concerning the chronology of the burials. When archaeology with its rich experience in the field is left neglected, the results of geneticists may appear less convincing or even doubtful. Archaeology has a whole arsenal of reliable methods and approaches, which can be illustrated by excellent examples in the studies of Scythian royal mounds [Alekseev 1991; Mozolevsky, Polin 2005]. Of relevance is also the method of spatial analysis developed by the present author; this has proved to be quite effective in establishing social hierarchies, when the depth of graves and their location, with respect to each other and the space organization inside the mounds, are taken into special consideration [Ochir-Goryaeva, 2018].
To illustrate, the genetic analysis of twenty individuals from five burial mounds of the Scythian era located in the Sayan Highlands indicated that thirteen of them were first-degree relatives [Mary, et al., 2020]. In another work the examination of a Hunnic necropolis in Mongolia has allowed to establish that it comprised the representatives of five generations of two family clans buried in the same necropolis [Keyser et al., 2020]. Unfortunately, these and a number of similar articles discuss only the results of the work of geneticists. They shed no light on the planigraphy of the kurgan groups under study or on the analysis of their burial structures; there is no data concerning the chronology of the burials. When archaeology with its rich experience in the field is left neglected, the results of geneticists may appear less convincing or even doubtful. Archaeology has a whole arsenal of reliable methods and approaches, which can be illustrated by excellent examples in the studies of Scythian royal mounds [Alekseev 1991; Mozolevsky, Polin 2005]. Of relevance is also the method of spatial analysis developed by the present author; this has proved to be quite effective in establishing social hierarchies, when the depth of graves and their location, with respect to each other and the space organization inside the mounds, are taken into special consideration [Ochir-Goryaeva, 2018].
Keywords:
genetic methods, planigraphy of the kurgan groups, archaeological research
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authors
Main authors:
Maria Ochir-Goryaeva1
Co-author:
Affiliations:
1 Kalmyk Research Center Russian Academy of Sciences