.2020 Nov 16;15(11):e0241278.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241278. eCollection 2020.

Kinship and social organization in Copper Age Europe. A cross-disciplinary analysis of archaeology, DNA, isotopes, and anthropology from two Bell Beaker cemeteries

Karl-Göran Sjögren¹, Iñigo Olalde^{2 3}, Sophie Carver⁴, Morten E Allentoft^{5 6}, Tim Knowles⁴, Guus Kroonen^{7 8}, Alistair W G Pike⁹, Peter Schröter¹⁰, Keri A Brown¹¹, Kate Robson Brown⁴, Richard J Harrison⁴, Francois Bertemes¹², David Reich^{2 13 14}, Kristian Kristiansen¹, Volker Heyd¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
² Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America.
³ Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
⁵ Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
⁶ Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁷ Department for Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸ Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie, München, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
¹² Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Archäologien Europas, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
¹³ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
¹⁴ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, United States of America.
¹⁵ Department of Cultures / Archaeology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

PMID:33196640
PMCID: PMC7668604
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241278

Kinship and social organization in Copper Age Europe. A cross-disciplinary analysis of archaeology, DNA, isotopes, and anthropology from two Bell Beaker cemeteries

Karl-Göran Sjögren et al. PLoS One.2020.

.2020 Nov 16;15(11):e0241278.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241278. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
² Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America.
³ Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
⁵ Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
⁶ Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁷ Department for Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸ Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie, München, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
¹² Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Archäologien Europas, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
¹³ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
¹⁴ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, United States of America.
¹⁵ Department of Cultures / Archaeology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

PMID:33196640
PMCID: PMC7668604
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241278

Abstract

We present a high-resolution cross-disciplinary analysis of kinship structure and social institutions in two Late Copper Age Bell Beaker culture cemeteries of South Germany containing 24 and 18 burials, of which 34 provided genetic information. By combining archaeological, anthropological, genetic and isotopic evidence we are able to document the internal kinship and residency structure of the cemeteries and the socially organizing principles of these local communities. The buried individuals represent four to six generations of two family groups, one nuclear family at the Alburg cemetery, and one seemingly more extended at Irlbach. While likely monogamous, they practiced exogamy, as six out of eight non-locals are women. Maternal genetic diversity is high with 23 different mitochondrial haplotypes from 34 individuals, whereas all males belong to one single Y-chromosome haplogroup without any detectable contribution from Y-chromosomes typical of the farmers who had been the sole inhabitants of the region hundreds of years before. This provides evidence for the society being patrilocal, perhaps as a way of protecting property among the male line, while in-marriage from many different places secured social and political networks and prevented inbreeding. We also find evidence that the communities practiced selection for which of their children (aged 0-14 years) received a proper burial, as buried juveniles were in all but one case boys, suggesting the priority of young males in the cemeteries. This is plausibly linked to the exchange of foster children as part of an expansionist kinship system which is well attested from later Indo-European-speaking cultural groups.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1. Location and plans of the two late Bell Beaker culture cemeteries of Irlbach and Alburg (Straubing, Bavaria, Germany); the graves nos. 11, 15, 16 and 17 from the Alburg cemetery are shown as examples.

**Fig 2**
Genetic sexing results of the A) Irlbach and B) Alburg cemeteries.

**Fig 3**
Pie chart of mtDNA haplotype distribution of A) Irlbach and B) Alburg, in comparison C) with the Bell Beaker cemeteries around Augsburg.

**Fig 4. Principal Component Analysis using ~600000 autosomal genetic markers on 990 present-day West Eurasians (shown as grey circles).**
Ancient individuals are projected onto the first two principal components computed on the present-day individuals, to avoid the effects of ancient DNA damage.

**Fig 5**
Genetic intra-group kinship results of the A) Irlbach and B) Alburg cemeteries.

**Fig 6. Kinship pattern indicated and genealogy reconstructed for the Alburg cemetery.**

**Fig 7. Kinship pattern indicated and genealogy reconstructed for the Irlbach cemetery.**

**Fig 8. Scatter plot of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O_c isotope ratios of the individuals of the Irlbach and Alburg cemeteries.**
Outlier graves are numbered (below the datapoint) and sex and age at death (above the datapoint) are indicated. The yellow background represents the local range of the⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio, the green background that of δ¹⁸O_c. Typical⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr errors are 0.00001. Note that the δ¹⁸O_c outlier of IRL 2 is not shown in this graph as we could not get a⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio value for this young adult woman.

**Fig 9**
Social institutions as a model: 9A: Exogamy and male foundation of new settlements within existing patterns. 9B: Exogamy and male foundation of new settlements in period of geographical expansion. 9C: Kinship diagram of the reconstructable Proto-Indo-European terms for relatives of the marital partners. The wealth of words for relatives on the husband’s side versus the absence of those on the wife’s side is consistent with a system of patrilocal exogamy.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Kinship and social organization in Copper Age Europe. A cross-disciplinary analysis of archaeology, DNA, isotopes, and anthropology from two Bell Beaker cemeteries

Affiliations

Kinship and social organization in Copper Age Europe. A cross-disciplinary analysis of archaeology, DNA, isotopes, and anthropology from two Bell Beaker cemeteries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Research Materials