Kinship, acquired and inherited status, and population structure at the Early Bronze Age Mokrin necropolis in northern Serbia

Abstract

Twenty-four ancient genomes with an average sequencing coverage of 0.85±0.25 X were produced from the Mokrin necropolis, an Early Bronze Age (2,100-1,800 BC) Maros culture site in Serbia, to provide unambiguous identification of biological sex, population structure, and genetic kinship between individuals. Of the 24 investigated individuals, 15 were involved in kinship relationships of varying degrees, including 3 parent-offspring relationships. All observed parent-offspring pairs were mother and son. In addition to the absence of biological daughters, we observed a number of young women and girls with no biological relatives in our sample. These observations, together with the high mitochondrial diversity in our sample, are consistent with the practice of female exogamy in the population served by Mokrin. However, moderate-to-high Y-chromosomal diversity suggests a degree of male mobility greater than that expected under strict patrilocality. Individual status differences at Mokrin, as indicated by grave goods, support the inference that females could inherit status, but could not transmit status to all their sons. The case of a son whose grave good richness outstrips that of his biological mother suggests that sons had the possibility to acquire status during their lifetimes. The Mokrin sample resembles a genetically unstructured population, suggesting that the community's social hierarchies were not accompanied by strict marriage barriers.

Human Genetics: Lactase Persistence in a Battlefield

“…Interestingly, several close familial relationships and kin groups were found in both the Lech valley and Mokrin [12,13], but no close relatives were reported in the Tollense valley [5]. This is in accordance with the Lech valley sites and the Mokrin necropolis being burial grounds associated with settlements and therefore representing local populations while the Tollense valley remains are connected to a battle with combatants recruited from a broader area.…”

“…This suggests that there has been no big genetic influx to the area since the Bronze Age. The same can be said about two other Bronze Age sites that have undergone focused local-scale studies -the Lech valley in Bavaria, southern Germany (4,750-3,300 years old) [12], and the Mokrin necropolis in northern Serbia (4,100-3,800 years old) [13]. The Lech valley individuals are most similar to modern Central Europeans and the Mokrin population to Central and Southern Europeans, corresponding with their geographic location.…”

“…Burger and colleagues [5] set out to test this hypothesis on the Tollense individuals, as well as a more extensive R1312 Current Biology 30, R1301-R1330, November 2, 2020 ll set of published and new data. They estimate the rs4988235A allele frequency for the Tollense valley and Mokrin necropolis [13] individuals at <10%. This suggests that around 3,200 years ago, more than 80% of individuals were still lactose intolerant.…”

Benchmarking kinship estimation tools for ancient genomes using pedigree simulations

“…This is similar to the pairwise mismatch rate (PMR) calculation by Kennett and colleagues [4]. Two other commonly used tools, lcMLkin (v2) [14,15] and NgsRelate (v2) [16], use genotype likelihoods and population allele frequency estimates to infer the kinship degree between pairs within a likelihood framework. The TKGWV2 [18] algorithm also uses population allele frequencies within a method-of-moments framework.…”

“…[13]), genotype likelihoods (e.g. [14][15][16]) or read information (e.g. [17]), instead of diploid calls.…”