The research in this thesis is part of an archaeological study about the excavation of the old graveyard around the St. Plechelmus Basilica in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands. Between 2011 and 2013,...Show moreThe research in this thesis is part of an archaeological study about the excavation of the old graveyard around the St. Plechelmus Basilica in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands. Between 2011 and 2013, 2750 individuals were exhumed from this graveyard, and two atypical mass graves were encountered. A selection of 200 skeletons divided over five matrices , including the individuals from the mass graves, has been studied with advanced scientific methods, including ancient DNA by Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Leiden University Medical Center. The meticulously conducted DNA research has resulted in generally very good quality DNA with no indications of contamination and with genetic profiles suitable for genetic kinship testing. Statistical analyses were carried out on the autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA data to test for kinship relationships, which resulted in indications of various genetic relationships. This thesis focuses on skeletons from matrix D, including one of the mass graves, consisting of 48 individuals. The DNA research demonstrates no genetic kinship for the six individuals in the mass grave. There were clear indications for kinship for five pairs of individuals from the non-mass grave area of matrix D. This thesis demonstrates the successful use of ancient DNA analyses for reconstructing kinship relationships in an archaeological context.Show less
During the excavation at the St. Plechelmus church in Oldenzaal between 2011 and 2013, six skeletons were found in a single burial context and were interpreted to be family members buried in a ...Show moreDuring the excavation at the St. Plechelmus church in Oldenzaal between 2011 and 2013, six skeletons were found in a single burial context and were interpreted to be family members buried in a ‘family grave’. Ancient DNA recovered from these individuals yielded information that is used to determine if there are genetic indications which can prove or disprove this interpretation. Furthermore, 81 surrounding skeletons were incorporated in this research for the determination of possible additional family relationships from a larger area of the cemetery. Short tandem repeat amplifications for 16 autosomal markers and 22 y-chromosomal markers provided reliable polymerase chain reaction products with no contamination. With allele frequency data from present-day Dutch people, and allele frequencies from all the Oldenzaal samples, statistical analyses were performed with the programs Relpair and Familias to reconstruct kinship relations. The results found no genetic indications for possible kinship relations between the six individuals from the ‘family grave’. However, this cannot exclude that these individuals were biologically related to each other. For the surrounding 81 skeletons, the results indicate eight possible kinship relations. A Harris matrix showing all the excavated skeletons revealed that three out of the eight possible kinship relation pairs were spatially linked to each other; an aspect upon which the interpretation of the ‘family grave’ was based in the first place. This thesis demonstrates the successful use of aDNA from the Oldenzaal cemetery to reconstruct family relationships.Show less
