Utafiti wa aDNA unaibua mifumo ya "familia na jamaa" ya jumuiya za kabla ya historia

Information about “family and kinship” systems (which is routinely studied by social anthropology and ethnography) of prehistoric societies is unavailable due to obvious reasons. Tools of DNA ya kale research along with archaeological contexts have successfully reconstructed family trees (pedigrees) of individuals who lived about 6000 years ago at British and French sites. Analysis reveals patrilineal descent, patrilocal residence and female exogamy were common practice at both the European sites. At the Gurgy site in France, monogamy was the norm while there is evidence of polygamous unions at the British site of North Long Cairn. Tools of DNA ya kale research has come handy to the discipline of anthropology and ethnography in studying kinship systems of prehistoric communities which would not have been possible otherwise.  

Anthropologists or ethnographers routinely study “family and kinship systems” of societies but conducting such studies of prehistoric ancient societies is a different ballgame altogether because all that is available to study are contexts and some archaeological remains including artifacts and bones. Fortunately, things have changed for good courtesy advances in archaeogenetics or ancient DNA (aDNA) research. Now it is technically possible to collect, extract, amplify and analyse sequences of DNA extracted from ancient human remains who lived thousands of years ago. Biological Kinship between individuals which is key to understanding caregiving, resource sharing and cultural behaviours among members of family is inferred using kinship identifcation softwares. Notwithstanding limitations arising due to low coverage, the softwares provide consistent inference of kin relationships¹. Kwa msaada wa aDNA tool, it is increasingly possible to shed lights on “family and kinship” systems of jumuiya za kabla ya historia. Kwa kweli, biolojia ya molekuli inaweza kuwa inabadilisha mandhari ya anthropolojia na ethnografia.   

Mazishi ya Uingereza ya Neolithic huko Hazleton North Long Cairn huko Gloucestershire Kusini Magharibi. Uingereza ilikuwa imetoa mabaki ya watu walioishi karibu miaka 5,700 iliyopita. Uchambuzi wa kinasaba wa watu 35 kutoka tovuti hii ulisababisha kuundwa upya kwa ukoo wa familia ya vizazi vitano ambao ulionyesha kuenea kwa ukoo wa baba. Kulikuwa na wanawake ambao walizaa na wanaume wa ukoo lakini mabinti wa ukoo hawakuwapo ikimaanisha mazoea ya ukaazi wa kizalendo na kutoroka kwa wanawake. Mwanaume mmoja alizaa na wanawake wanne (inayopendekezwa kwa mitala). Sio watu wote walikuwa karibu kijenetiki na ukoo mkuu wakipendekeza vifungo vya jamaa vilienda zaidi ya uhusiano wa kibaolojia ambao unaelekeza kwenye mazoea ya kuasili.^2.  

Katika utafiti mkubwa zaidi wa hivi karibuni uliochapishwa mnamo 26^th Julai 2023, watu 100 (walioishi miaka 6,700 iliyopita karibu 4850-4500 KK) kutoka eneo la mazishi la mamboleo la Gurgy 'Les Noisats' katika eneo la Bonde la Paris kaskazini mwa siku hizi. Ufaransa zilichunguzwa na timu ya watafiti wa Franco-Ujerumani kutoka maabara ya PACEA huko Bordeaux, Ufaransa, na kutoka Taasisi ya Max Planck ya Anthropolojia ya Mageuzi huko Leipzig, Ujerumani. Watu kutoka kwa tovuti hii waliunganishwa na ukoo wawili (miti ya familia) inayojumuisha vizazi saba. Uchambuzi ulibaini kuwa karibu watu wote waliunganishwa kwenye familia kupitia ukoo wa baba yao unaopendekeza kuwa na asili ya baba. Zaidi ya hayo, hakuna mwanamke mtu mzima ambaye wazazi/babu zake walizikwa kwenye tovuti hii. Hii inaangazia mila ya mila ya mwanamke kuexogamy na makazi ya kizalendo yaani, wanawake walihama kutoka mahali alipozaliwa hadi mahali pa mwenzi wake wa uzazi wa kiume. Ushirikiano wa jamaa wa karibu (uzazi kati ya watu wenye uhusiano wa karibu) haukuwepo. Tofauti na tovuti ya mamboleo ya Uingereza huko Hazleton North Long Cairn, ndugu wa kambo hawakuwa kwenye tovuti ya Ufaransa. Hii inaonyesha kuwa ndoa ya mke mmoja ilikuwa desturi ya kawaida kwenye tovuti ya Gurgy^3,4.  

Thus, patrilineal descent, patrilocal residence and female exogamy were commonly practiced at both the European sites. At the Gurgy site, monogamy was the norm while there is evidence of polygamous unions at the site of North Long Cairn. Tools of DNA ya kale research combined with archaeological contexts can give fair idea of “family and kinship“ systems of prehistoric communities which would not be available to anthropology and ethnography otherwise.  

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Marejeo:   

1. Marsh, WA, Brace, S. & Barnes, I. Inferring ujamaa wa kibayolojia katika hifadhidata za zamani: kulinganisha majibu ya vifurushi vya zamani vya programu mahususi vya DNA na data ya chanjo ya chini. BMC Genomics 24, 111 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-023-09198-4 
2. Fowler, C., Olalde, I., Cummings, V. et al. Picha ya azimio la juu ya mazoezi ya jamaa katika kaburi la Mapema la Neolithic. Nature 601, 584–587 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04241-4 
3. Rivolat, M., Rohrlach, AB, Ringbauer, H. et al. Nasaba nyingi zinaonyesha shirika la kijamii la jumuiya ya Neolithic. Asili (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06350-8 
4. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 2023. Habari - Miti ya familia kutoka Neolithic ya Ulaya. Ilichapishwa 26 Julai 2023. Inapatikana kwa https://www.mpg.de/20653021/0721-evan-family-trees-from-the-european-neolithic-150495-x 

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