Kanz, Fabian
Kinship, Sex, and Biological Relatedness : The contribution of archaeogenetics to the understanding of social and biological relations
Relationships between people have always been the basis of social coexistence. Kinship – whether it is biological or social – has a very special significance. In archaeology, these immaterial connections have rarely been proven beyond doubt. In recent years, however, the field of archaeogenetics has developed methods and techniques that, given good DNA preservation, make it possible to determine the degree of genetic relatedness between two people who lived in the past.
The studies collected in this book, draw their knowledge on kinship from the fields of anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and the historical and social sciences. They demonstrate, on the basis of recent or previously known sites, which conclusions the new scientific insights allow on the one hand, but on the other hand also point out their limitations in the interpretation of (pre-)historic societies.
