Intramural child burials in Iron Age Navarra: How ancient DNA can contribute to household archaeology

Abstract

The transition from the Late Bronze to the Iron Age on theIberian Peninsula saw a shift in mortuary customs frommainly inhumation to cremation of the deceased. The poorpreservation characteristic of cremated skeletal remains hashindered molecular analyses (isotope analyses, ancient DNA)of the Iberian Final Bronze and Iron Age communities of Ibe-ria. Incidentally, a limited number of young children, oftennewborns, were exempt from the predominant cremationritual, in favour of intramural inhumations inside buildingsat certain settlements. The discourse surrounding the mean-ing and interpretation of this particular burial rite has devel-oped over a long time in Iberian archaeology but has alwaysbeen hampered by the limited anthropological, archaeologi-cal, and molecular data from these intramural inhumations.Here, we study the genomes of 37 intramurally buried chil-dren found in three Early Iron Age settlements, dated betweenc. 800–450 BC. Population genetic analyses on the newlyreported individuals extend our understanding of ancientIberia by revealing previously unsampled genetic diversity aswell as showing a lesser influence of Mediterranean ancestrythan on previously published Iron Age individuals from north-ern Spain. We also provide insights into the sex and biologicalrelatedness of the children, and in so doing, elucidate differ-ent aspects of the intramural burial ritual and building use insettlements. More broadly, the genetic data from these indi-viduals fill an important gap in the archaeogenetic record ofnorthern Spain and offer a unique opportunity to study thegenetic makeup and population changes from the Bronze Ageto Antiquity.