Exploring Kinship Within a Late Meroitic to Medieval Cemetery in Sudan Using k-Modes Clustering
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View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.This study modeled intracemetery patterns at a Sudanese cemetery to understand kinship
Area Of Science
- Bioarchaeology and anthropological genetics
- Analysis of skeletal remains and mortuary practices
- Application of machine learning in anthropology
Background
- The Qinifab School site is a late Meroitic to Christian period cemetery (c. 250-1400 CE) in Sudan.
- The cemetery's organization is examined during periods of significant sociopolitical and religious change.
- Understanding kinship structures provides insight into societal organization.
Purpose Of The Study
- To model intracemetery patterns at the Qinifab School site.
- To explore the role of kinship in cemetery organization.
- To investigate how kinship influenced burial practices during major societal shifts.
Main Methods
- Examination of 68 cranial and 36 dental nonmetric traits in 67 adults.
- Application of k-modes clustering, a machine-learning algorithm, to biological, demographic, and temporal data.
- Validation using inter-individual Mahalanobis distances and principal components analysis.
Main Results
- Three validated clusters emerged, aligning with the cemetery's archaeological context and temporal periods.
- An initial cluster represented a founding group, with later periods comprising two additional groups.
- Some sex-based mortuary patterning was observed, with late to Post-Meroitic males clustering together.
Conclusions
- The cemetery reflects temporal organization and a multilocal residence pattern.
- Kinship did not exclusively determine burial proximity or specific grave goods (archery items, incisor avulsion).
- The findings suggest complex interrelationships between kin groups, possibly involving intermarriage or status distinctions.
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