Genetic kinship and sex determination of Early Modern Period human remains from a defunct graveyard in the former village of Obora (located on Šporkova Street in Prague’s Lesser Town district)

0517377 - ARÚ 2020 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Nováčková, Jana - Řebounová, O. - Kvítková, D. - Omelka, M. - Stenzl, V.
Genetic kinship and sex determination of Early Modern Period human remains from a defunct graveyard in the former village of Obora (located on Šporkova Street in Prague’s Lesser Town district).
Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica. Natural Sciences in Archaeology. Roč. 10, č. 2 (2019), s. 143-152. ISSN 1804-848X
Grant - others:MV(CZ) VI20162020015
Institutional support: RVO:67985912
Keywords : Early Modern Period * ancient DNA (aDNA) * genetic analyses * short tandem repeats * Y-chromosome * autosome
OECD category: Archaeology
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.iansa.eu/papers/IANSA-2019-02-novackova.pdf

The main aim of this study was to determine genetic kinship and genetic sex of individuals buried either in the same grave, multi-level grave, or neighbourhood grave. Success of genetic analyses is based on the quantity and quality of extracted aDNA, which can be compromised by degradation of DNA and possible contamination by modern DNA. We analysed archaeological skeletal remains from an Early Modern period graveyard belonging to the Church of St. John the Baptist in the former village of Obora, one of the most honourable Early Modern period archaeological sites in the Czech Republic. Most of the 906 excavated anatomically-laid burials are dated to the years 1730s–1770s. The results of 23 analysed individuals (divided into 4 groups) revealed that individuals are not blood relatives. Studies of historical written sources provide information that the parish affiliation at the time of death had a crucial role in choosing the place for burial. Genetic analyses increased success rate of sex determination to 91% compared to 61% determined by morphological methods. We were thus able to determine the genetic sex of children, an evaluation that cannot be made by morphological methods.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0302705