More Error than Minority: Gendered Burial Practices Align with Peptide-based Sex Identification in Early Bronze Age Burials in Central Europe
- Autor(en)
- Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Margit Berner, Karin Wiltschke-Schrotta, Ana-Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Michael Wolf, Fabian Kanz
- Abstrakt
The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c. 2900-1600
BC) of Central Europe are characterized by burial practices that strongly differentiate between men and women through body placement and orientation in the grave, as well as through grave goods. The osteological sex estimation of the individuals from the cemeteries of Franzhausen I and Gemeinlebarn F corresponds to the gender expressed in the funerary practice in 98 per cent of cases. In this study, we investigate the remaining minority by applying ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) to identify sex-specific peptides in the dental enamel of 34 individuals, for which the published osteological sex estimation did not fit the gendered burial practice. The results reveal sex estimation and transcription errors, demonstrating that the chromosomal sex of the individuals usually aligns with the gendered burial treatment. We found burials with internally inconsistent gendered patterns ('mixed-message burials'), but there is no evidence to suggest that a biologically male individual was deliberately buried as a woman or a biologically female individual was buried as a man.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie, Institut für Analytische Chemie
- Externe Organisation(en)
- Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHM), Medizinische Universität Wien
- Journal
- Cambridge Archaeological Journal
- ISSN
- 0959-7743
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S095977432500006X
- Publikationsdatum
- 2025
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 601021 Urgeschichte, 104002 Analytische Chemie, 104026 Spektroskopie
- ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
- Cultural Studies, Archaeology, Archaeology
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/4f368ae4-89d2-4784-a0d2-79ac0270de9d