When Heinrich Schliemann discovered the gold-rich pit tombs of Mycenae with their famous golden masks 100 years ago, he could only speculate about the biological relationship of the people buried in them. Today, with the help of ancient DNA analysis, it has become possible to obtain the first information on biological affinity and the context in which the selection of spouses was shaped in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece.
An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig brings to light unique findings on the form of family and marriage in Greece during the Bronze Age. Analyses of ancient human genomes show that the degree of biological relatedness played a decisive role in the choice of spouses. The study was published in the prestigious journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Thanks to innovative methodological developments in the analysis of ancient DNA, it has become possible to produce extensive genetic data even in Greece, where the preservation of ancient DNA remains inadequate due to climatic conditions. The research team, led by Dr. Irini Skourtanioti, analysed more than 100 human genomes from the Bronze Age Aegean region for this study. The international research team was large and interdisciplinary. «Without the great contribution of our collaborators in Greece and worldwide, this would not have been possible,» says archaeologist Philipp Stockhammer, one of the lead authors of the study.
The first biological family tree of a Mycenaean family
This is the first genealogical tree that has been reconstructed so far in the entire ancient Mediterranean region and concerns the inhabitants of a small Mycenaean settlement in the Peloponnese in the 16th century BC, specifically at the archaeological site of Myddalia in Achaia. In detail, the research showed that some of the sons of the family continued to live in the paternal settlement even after they had their own family, since their children were buried together in a grave under the courtyard of the house. In fact, it seems that one of their companions brought her sister into the family, whose child was also buried in the same grave.
It was customary to marry one's first cousin
Another finding was completely unexpected: in Crete and other Greek islands, such as Paros and Aegina, 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 parts of the world have now been published, but it seems that such a strict system of same-sex marriage did not exist anywhere else in the ancient world,» says Irini Skourtanioti. «This came as a complete surprise to all of us and raises many questions.».
As to how the specific context of determining spouse choice is explained, the research team can only speculate. «Perhaps this was a way to maintain the integrity of inherited farmland? In any case, it would have ensured a certain continuity of the family in some areas, which would have been an important prerequisite for the cultivation of olives and vines, for example,» Stockhammer speculates. «What is certain is that the analysis of ancient genomes will continue to provide us with surprising, new insights into ancient family structures,» adds Stockhammer.
Population movements in Late Minoan Crete
The team also came to new conclusions about the population structure and movements of ancient people. While the populations of the Mycenaean period from Tiryns in the Peloponnese to Attica were genetically very homogeneous, in Crete and specifically in ancient Kydonia (today's Chania) it seems that local inhabitants were largely mixed with groups that arrived on the island from various regions of mainland Greece and the Central Mediterranean. «It is characteristic that this demographic change had taken place during a very dynamic period for the political and social life of the island, the so-called Creto-Mycenaean period (14th-13th century BC),» says Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, director of the systematic excavations of Minoan Kydonia, who participated in the study.
More information about the scientific publication:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01952-3 and https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01952-3
