Maternal relationship analysis of skeletal remains from Early Medieval cemetery in Slovakia

Anthropol Anz. 2016;73(3):249-55. doi: 10.1127/anthranz/2016/0649. Epub 2016 Aug 11.

Abstract

MtDNA from the skeletal remains of two bodies buried in the grave No. F44 from Nitra-Šindolka (woman and child) was analysed. Cemeteries in Šindolka belong to the Bijelo Brdo culture, where Slavs and Magyars were buried in the 10th - 11th centuries. Surprisingly, the analysis of mtDNA has shown no maternal relationship between buried persons, since the woman belongs to haplogroup T1a and the child to haplogroup J. Since both haplogroups can be found in Near Eastern and European populations at similar frequencies, the tested samples from the tomb No. F44 cannot be clearly assigned to ethnic origin.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Anthropology, Physical
  • Cemeteries / history*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Female
  • Haplotypes / genetics*
  • History, Medieval
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Mothers
  • Slovakia / ethnology
  • White People / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial