The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited: The bronze age burial of montanissell cave (Spain) in the light of aDNA

Department d’Histo`ria, Universitat de Lleida, 25003 Lleida, SpainKEY WORDS mtDNA; ancient remains; haplogroup J; amelogeninABSTRACT Ancient populations have commonly beenthought to have lived in small groups where extremeendogamy was the norm. To contribute to this debate, agenetic analysis has been carried out on a collective burialwith eight primary inhumations from Montanissell Cavein the Catalan pre-Pyrenees. Radiocarbon dating clearlyplaced the burial in the Bronze Age, around 3200 BP. Thecomposition of the group—two adults (one male, onefemale), one young woman, and five children from bothsexes—seemed to represent the structure of a typical nu-clear family. The genetic evidence proves this assumptionto be wrong. In fact, at least five out of the eight mito-chondrial haplotypes were different, denying the possibil-ity of a common maternal ancestor for all of them. Never-theless, 50% of the inhumations shared haplogroup J, sothe possibility of a maternal relationship cannot be ruledout. Actually, combining different analyses performedusing ancient and living populations, the probability ofhaving four related J individuals in Montanissell Cavewould range from 0.9884 to 0.9999. Owing to the particu-larities of this singular collective burial (small number ofbodies placed altogether in a hidden cave, the evidence ofnon-simultaneous interments, close dating and unusualgrave goods), we suggest that it might represent a smallgroup with a patrilocal mating system. Am J PhysAnthropol 146:406–413, 2011.