Y-Chromosomal DNA from Ancient Bones

Abstract

In prehistoric anthropology the sex ratio and sex-related mortality of a population are part of the basic biological data, alongside age structure, morbidity, and nutritional status. These data give access to sociocultural and socioeconomic characteristics of a population. While morphologic sex determination from the skeletal remains of adults is usually not a difficult procedure, anthropologists have lacked reliable methods of sex determination from the often physically damaged and fragile bones of infant individuals. Since medieval cemeteries may often contain up to 50% infant and juvenile burials, sex determination in subadult individuals is a necessity for paleodemography and related fields concerned with social history. In this chapter we will show how the analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) can provide an important tool to these sciences by offering a molecular method of sex determination that is relatively independent of gross morphologic preservation.