CNN
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If you want to hold onto your land in the Bronze Age Greececould do worse than marrying a cousin.
An international team of researchers analyzing genome Unlike other European societies of the time, in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece, cousins married frequently.
experts from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology In Leipzig, Germany, together with an international team of partners, we analyzed over 100 genomes of Aegean Bronze Age people.
The team behind the study, published Monday in the scientific journal, natural ecology and evolutionsaid their findings provide “exciting insights” into the social order of the Aegean Bronze Age.
By analyzing the DNA of people buried in tombs under the courtyards of houses in the settlement of Mycenae on mainland Greece, researchers have successfully reconstructed the genealogy of the inhabitants of the 16th century BC. bottom.
Archaeologist Professor Philip Stockhammer, one of the study’s lead authors, told CNN:
“We have successfully created the first family tree of the Mediterranean. Seeing who was buried in the outside courtyard tells us who lived together in this house.
“For example, you can see that three sons lived in this house as adults. One of the spouses brought in his sister and children.
Even more surprising was the discovery that about half of the people living on the islands are married to their cousins, compared to about a third on the mainland.
“Not 100%, but not everyone has cousins,” says Stockhammer.
“People have studied thousands of ancestral genomes, and there is little evidence that cousin marriages ever existed. From a historical perspective, this is really great,” he added. .
Stockhammer and his colleagues believe that such unions depend on economics to prevent family lands from being divided.
He explains: If you look at what people were cultivating, it was both grapes and olives for olive oil, but both grapes and olives may need to be in a particular place for decades.
“Marriage in the family means that we are focused on staying in the same area.”
In contrast, in other Bronze Age parts of Europe, women often traveled hundreds of miles to get married. bottom.
“In Greece, we don’t have a lot of space to grow things, and what we plant takes decades to grow,” he said.
“The genetic evidence makes it perfectly possible to see marriages between first cousins. Too many people do it to say it’s pure chance, but it’s not 100%. I’d say it was a pretty harsh practice.” increase.
“It’s an unwritten rule because everyone did it.”
Stockhammer explains the significance of this discovery:
“A society that keeps records about palace administration, but now it can say something about ordinary people.”
