Ancient DNA study of the remains of putative infanticide victims from the Yewden Roman villa site at Hambleden, England

Abstract

Previous analysis of the perinatal infant burials from Romano-British Hambleden indicated the practice of infanticide at that site. We attempted to determine whether this practice was specifically targetted at one sex or other by determining the sex of the infants using analysis of fragments of the amelogenin gene. We also analysed mtDNA in order to shed light on aspects of kinship. Thirty-three infants were analysed, and sex was successfully identified in 12. Seven were female, five male. No two infants shared identical mtDNA polymorphisms, indicating that all came from different mothers. Taken together with previous DNA results from perinatal remains from Roman-British sites where infanticide has been identified, they provide no evidence that manipulation of the sex ratio was a motivation for infanticide in Roman Britain. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 2 ABSTRACT Previous analysis of the perinatal infant burials from Romano-British Hambleden indicated the practice of infanticide at that site. We attempted to determine whether this practice was specifically targetted at one sex or other by determining the sex of the infants using analysis of fragments of the amelogenin gene. We also analysed mtDNA in order to shed light on aspects of kinship. Thirty-three infants were analysed, and sex was successfully identified in 12. Seven were female, five male. No two infants shared identical mtDNA polymorphisms, indicating that all came from different mothers. Taken together with previous DNA results from perinatal remains from Roman-British sites where infanticide has been identified, they provide no evidence that manipulation of the sex ratio was a motivation for infanticide in Roman Britain.

A comparison of proteomic, genomic, and osteological methods of archaeological sex estimation

“…In addition to providing detailed genetic information, this allows biological sex to be estimated from shotgun sequencing data 25 – 27 . These approaches were an improvement over earlier PCR-based marker methods, which were less sensitive and had a higher risk of contamination 28 – 32 . Even with the application of high-throughput genomic data, confident estimation of biological sex is still restricted by requirements for high levels of DNA preservation 27 .…”

Sex determination of human remains from peptides in tooth enamel

“…Unfortunately, ancient DNA analysis is not the answer to this problem due to issues of preservation, contamination, and expense. For example, several DNA studies attempted to determine the sex of infants from Romano-British sites with the aim of assessing whether preferential female infanticide was practiced ( 7 , 8 ), but in all of those studies, viable results were obtained from only a small proportion of the overall number sampled. Owing to the destructive, costly, and inconclusive nature of DNA sex determination, this method has rarely been attempted on any scale on human remains from archaeological sites.…”

Reconstructing prehistoric demography: What role for extant hunter‐gatherers?

“…These mechanisms were envisioned as deliberate group‐level controls that ensured population size never exceeded environmental carrying capacity. Infanticide is a mechanism, which continues to be cited, 70–76 and in our experience, discussed at archeological conferences and workshops, as crucial to curtailing past population growth. This narrative has become an “accepted truth” but is unlikely for multiple reasons, which we will highlight here with the example of female‐biased infanticide.…”