https://phys.org/news/2023-01-marriage-minoan-crete-revealed-ancient.html Phys.org Topics * Week's top * Latest news * Unread news * Subscribe [ ] Science X Account [ ] [ ] [*] Remember me Sign In Click here to sign in with or Forget Password? Not a member? Sign up Learn more * Nanotechnology * Physics * Earth * Astronomy & Space * Chemistry * Biology * Other Sciences * Medical Xpress Medicine * Tech Xplore Technology * * share this! * 169 * 34 * Share * Email 1. Home 2. Other Sciences 3. Archaeology * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------- January 16, 2023 Marriage rules in Minoan Crete revealed by ancient DNA analysis by Max Planck Society Marriage in Minoan Crete The well-known figure of a Minoan goddess, artistically appropriated and depicted holding DNA chains instead of snakes. The population is born from her "ancient" body. The orange and red genealogy refers to the research finding of endogamy between first and second cousins. Credit: Eva Skourtanioti An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, reports completely new insights into Bronze Age marriage rules and family structures in Greece. Analyses of ancient genomes show that the choice of marriage partners was determined by one's own kinship. When Heinrich Schliemann discovered the gold-rich shaft tombs of Mycenae with their famous gold masks more than 100 years ago, he could only speculate about the relationship of the people buried in them. Now, with the help of the analysis of ancient genomes, it has been possible for the first time to gain insights into kinship and marriage rules in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. The results were published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), together with an international team of partners, analyzed more than 100 genomes of Bronze Age people from the Aegean. "Without the great cooperation with our partners in Greece and worldwide, this would not have been possible," says archaeologist Philipp Stockhammer, one of the study's lead authors. First biological family tree of a Mycenaean family Thanks to recent methodological advances in the production and evaluation of ancient genetic datasets, it has now been possible to produce extensive data even in regions with problematic DNA preservation due to climate conditions, such as Greece. For a Mycenaean hamlet of the 16th century BC, it has even been possible to reconstruct the kinship of the house's inhabitants--the first family tree that has so far been genetically reconstructed for the entire ancient Mediterranean region. Apparently, some of the sons still lived in their parents' hamlet in adulthood. Their children were buried in a tomb under the courtyard of the estate. One of the wives who married into the house brought her sister into the family, as her child was also buried in the same grave. Marriage in Minoan Crete Life picture: Bronze Age family harvesting grain. Credit: Nikola Nevenov Customary to marry one's first cousin However, another finding was completely unexpected: on Crete and the other Greek islands, as well as on the mainland, it was very common to marry one's first cousin 4,000 years ago. "More than a thousand ancient genomes from different regions of the world have now been published, but it seems that such a strict system of kin marriage did not exist anywhere else in the ancient world," says Eirini Skourtanioti, the lead author of the study who conducted the analyses. "This came as a complete surprise to all of us and raises many questions." Marriage in Minoan Crete Life picture: olive harvesting in the Aegean Bronze Age. Credit: Nikola Nevenov How this particular marriage rule can be explained, the research team can only speculate. "Maybe this was a way to prevent the inherited farmland from being divided up more and more? In any case, it guaranteed a certain continuity of the family in one place, which is an important prerequisite for the cultivation of olives and wine, for example," Stockhammer suspects. "What is certain is that the analysis of ancient genomes will continue to provide us with fantastic, new insights into ancient family structures in the future," adds Skourtanioti. More information: Eirini Skourtanioti, Ancient DNA reveals admixture history and endogamy in the prehistoric Aegean, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01952-3. www.nature.com/ articles/s41559-022-01952-3 Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution Provided by Max Planck Society Citation: Marriage rules in Minoan Crete revealed by ancient DNA analysis (2023, January 16) retrieved 16 January 2023 from https:// phys.org/news/2023-01-marriage-minoan-crete-revealed-ancient.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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