An age-specific burial practice reflected in ancient DNA preservation in Neolithic Catalhöyük

Ayça Küçükakdağ Doğu; Fatma Küçük Baloğlu; Maciej Chyleński; Eline M.J. Schotsmans; Muhammed Sıddık Kılıç; Kıvılcım Başak Vural; Eren Yüncü; Damla Kaptan; Merve Nur Güler; Sevgi Yorulmaz; Nergis Bilge Karabulut; Ekin Sağlıcan; Duygu Deniz Kazancı; Marco Milella; Arkadiusz Marciniak; Yılmaz Selim Erdal; Marin A. Pilloud; Clark Spencer Larsen; Anders Götherström; Ian Hodder; Füsun Özer; Scott D. Haddow; Christopher J. Knüsel; Mehmet Somel

doi:10.1101/2024.12.13.628343

Evolutionary BiologybioRxivDec 13, 2024

Preprint

An age-specific burial practice reflected in ancient DNA preservation in Neolithic Catalhöyük

Ayça Küçükakdağ Doğu iD, Fatma Küçük Baloğlu iD, Maciej Chyleński iD, Eline M.J. Schotsmans iD, Muhammed Sıddık Kılıç iD, Kıvılcım Başak Vural iD, Eren Yüncü iD, Damla Kaptan iD, Merve Nur Güler iD, Sevgi Yorulmaz iD, Nergis Bilge Karabulut iD, Ekin Sağlıcan iD, Duygu Deniz Kazancı iD, Marco Milella iD, Arkadiusz Marciniak iD, Yılmaz Selim Erdal iD, Marin A. Pilloud iD, Clark Spencer Larsen iD, Anders Götherström iD, Ian Hodder iD, Füsun Özer iD, Scott D. Haddow iD, Christopher J. Knüsel iD, Mehmet Somel iD

Abstract

Selective funerary practices can inform about social relationships in prehistoric societies but are often difficult to discern. Here we present evidence for an age-specific practice at the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk in Anatolia, dating to the 7th millennium BCE. Among ancient DNA libraries produced from 362 petrous bone samples, those of subadults contained three times higher average human DNA than those of adults. This difference in organic preservation was also confirmed by FTIR analysis. Studying similar datasets from seven prehistoric and historical sites, we found a similar age-related difference in only one cemetery. We propose that the organic preservation difference with age was caused by the special treatment of chosen corpses before interment, such as defleshing or drying, which was more frequently applied to Catalhoyuk adults and promoted organic decay.

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