Genetic and historical perspectives on the early medieval inhumations from the Menga dolmen, Antequera (Spain)

Abstract

The Menga dolmen, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site at Antequera (Malaga, Spain), was built in the fourth millennium BCE in the Neolithic period, but has a long biography extending to historical times. We analysed DNA from two individuals, radiocarbon dated to the 8th–11th centuries CE, who were buried in the atrium, aligned with the dolmen’s axis of symmetry. DNA content was very low and highly degraded, in line with previous observations from (pre)historic Mediterranean Iberia. We present here the genetic analysis of one of the individuals, following SNP-enrichment. Menga1 carried uniparental lineages typically found in European populations (but an mtDNA lineage shared with modern North African individuals), and at the autosomal level also displayed North African- and Levantine-related ancestry, consistent with the overall trend in the region during this period. We propose an interpretation for these inhumations based on historical accounts, framed within the wider archaeological context of the medieval phenomenon of reuse of prehistoric monuments in Iberia.