Inferences about Class Structure from Burial Form and Mitochondrial DNA Relationships at Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad, Syria

Summary

The Roman/Parthian period (200 BCE - 300 CE) at the site of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad, Syria existed during a period in the region characterized by political instability and military movement. This "borderland," existing at the extremities of both empires, created a unique sphere of potential interactions both on the individual level and broader scale. A cemetery from this period shows four distinct burial forms (mud-brick graves, earthen graves, amphora graves and clay sarcophagi). In an effort to better understand the site of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad this study presents thirty nine molecular profiles of individuals from the Roman/Parthian period at Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad in conjunction with archaeological mortuary evidence to determine how individuals may be related to one another, how matrilineal relationships may relate to burial form as well as potential regional interactions. Genetic results indicate a relatively homogenous population with no evidence of a recent influx of new mitochondrial haplotypes during the period under consideration despite the political disruption in the region. Genetic distances between individuals in different burial forms, however, indicate a socio-economic distinction that influenced the ways in which related individuals were buried.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22064