Kinship analysis using rare nonmetric dental traits in a prehistoric cemetery from Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This study evaluates whether three prehistoric burials containing 12 individuals (three adults and nine subadults) could represent family relationships in a small cemetery from a Middle Holocene site in Northeastern Brazil. In the absence of collagen for aDNA analysis, the hypothesis of genetic kinship relationship was verified through the analysis of nonmetric dental traits. Two rare nonmetric dental traits were analyzed: barrel-shaped upper lateral incisors (grades 6 and 7 on UI2 shoveling scale) and premolar odontomes. The relative frequencies of these traits were high in the sample, and statistical interpretation of the data revealed that the co-occurrence of these rare traits is unlikely to happen at random. Thus, their presence in individuals from the burial site of Toca do Enoque suggest plausible intracemetery genetic kin relationships.