Ancient DNA analysis of archaeological skeletal remains

Abstract

Kinship analysis in archaeology is a critical issue and it is usually tackled with conventional osteometric techniques and written records. However, because oftentimes these techniques have proven inadequate, ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis is implemented to encounter these issues and to bridge the archaeological anticipation with molecular data.This study explores kinship relationships amongst ancient skeletal remains from a diverse temporal and geographical scale, including samples from Darwen (~1800CE), Egypt (~1800BCE) and Winchester (~1100CE) via the discovery of uniparentally inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). At the same time comparisons are made to associate different methods widely implemented in aDNA studies with DNA recovery. Three case studies are presented in all of which, the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was examined as the primary marker to determine matrilineal kinship, followed by cloning and Sanger sequencing. The paternally inherited non - recombining region of the Y - chromosome (NRY) as well as the mtDNA were also examined in one of the projects through both Sanger and next generation sequencing (NGS) in tandem with in - solution hybridisation capture, to enable maternal and paternal lineage comparisons.Mitochondrial DNA was obtained in all but one of the examined samples, and was able to reconstruct kinship patterns. Nuclear DNA (nDNA) retrieval was also successful but extremely limited in terms of DNA yield, also supporting the project hypothesis regarding the paternal kinship. Contamination issues were not absent raising ambiguities and inconsistencies, thus inhibiting in a few cases the effectiveness of sequencing. NGS was proved superior when very old samples were analysed and where contamination was ubiquitous.The mtDNA and NRY sequences successfully provided insights into kinship relationships of the examined individuals, validating ancient DNA analysis as an alternative or supplementary method to morphological means.

Date of Award	1 Jan 1824
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Terence Brown (Supervisor) & Andrew Chamberlain (Supervisor)