EAA 2023: Abstract

Advances in ancient DNA analysis have revolutionised our ability to study the relationship between biological relatedness and socially constructed kin. Using data from the COMMIOS Project, this paper will explore the potential of ancient DNA evidence to shed light on the phenomenon of double burials. Genetic data have already confirmed the biological relatedness of individuals in so-called ‘mass graves’, which suggest a single, often violent, mortuary event followed by quick (and likely unceremonious) ‘disposal’. Double burials, however, so often cited in the literature, pose different challenges in their interpretation. Who were these individuals and how is it that they were interred in a single grave? Was their burial governed by tempo: by which any individual(s) who died around the same time shared a grave (and associated funerary rites)? Or do these graves represent designated family plots, necessitating either the re-opening of existing graves or the curation of one or more bodies before final deposition? Only a truly multidisciplinary approach which includes osteological, taphonomic, histological, archaeothanatological and now ancient DNA evidence can move us closer to unpicking the complex stories of Iron Age life and death.

Iron Age, Funerary archaeology, Kinship, Ancient DNA, Taphonomy, Double burials

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Lindsey Büster^1,2