Ancient genome wide analyses infer kinship structure in an Early Medieval Alemannic graveyard

From historical and archaeological records it is posited that the European medieval household was a combination of close relatives and recruits. However, such kinship structure has not yet been directly tested at a genomic level on medieval burials. The early 7th century A.D. burial at Niederstotzingen, discovered in 1962, is the most complete and richest example of Alemannic funerary practice in Germany. Excavations found thirteen closely associated individuals that were buried with an array of inscribed bridal gear, jewellery, armour and swords. These artefacts support that the individuals had contact to outside regions in France, Northern Italy and Byzantium. This study analysed genome wide data recovered from the remains, in tandem with the archaeological context, to reconstruct kinship and the extent of outside contact. All individuals had sufficient DNA preservation to genetically sex them as male and identify nine unique mitochondrial haplotypes and two distinct Y-chromosome lineages. Applying in-solution capture; genome-wide analyses were performed on eight individuals to estimate genetic affiliation to modern West Eurasians and genetic kinship at the burial. It was observed that five individuals were direct relatives to either first or second degree. Three other individuals were not detectably related, two of which showed genomic affinity to Southern Europeans. The genetic make-up of the individuals shares no observable pattern with their orientation in the burial or the cultural association of their grave goods, with the five related individuals having grave goods associated to four diverse cultural origins. This not only supports that kinship and fellowship were held in equal regard, but that diverse cultural appropriation was practiced among closely related individuals.