Abstract
In the past decades ancient DNA research has brought numerous insights to archaeological research where traditional approaches were limited. The determination of sex in human skeletal remains is often challenging for physical anthropologists when dealing with incomplete, juvenile or pathological specimens. Molecular approaches allow sexing on the basis of sex-specific markers or by calculating the ratio of DNA derived from different chromosomes. Here we propose a novel approach that relies on the ratio of X chromosome-derived shotgun sequencing data to the autosomal coverage, thus establishing the probability of an XX or XY karyotype. Applying this approach to the individuals of the Upper Paleolithic triple burial of Dolní Věstonice reveals that all three skeletons, including the individual DV 15, whose sex has long been debated due to a pathological condition, were male.
Highlights
Sexing of human skeletal material is traditionally performed in archeology by assessing sexually dimorphic traits of the pelvis and skull and, where possible, taking into account typically gendered burial positions and grave-goods
In the case of DNA derived from ancient human remains, a method has been proposed that identifies sex by considering the number of reads in shotgun DNA sequencing data that align to the X and Y chromosomes [1], which is advantageous over previous PCR-based approaches that targeted sex-specific markers [2,3,4] and that
Mapped reads of the samples showed elevated levels of deamination towards the ends (Table 1 and S1 Fig) and a read length distribution shifted toward short reads (S2 Fig), both characteristics of ancient DNA
Summary
Sexing of human skeletal material is traditionally performed in archeology by assessing sexually dimorphic traits of the pelvis and skull and, where possible, taking into account typically gendered burial positions and grave-goods. The expression of these skeletal traits falls on a continuum and is population-dependent, while gendered burial positions and goods were only common in some cultures and might have reflected different attitudes towards gender and biological sex that we are not aware of. The biological sex of an individual can be assessed by determining the sex chromosomal karyotype. In the case of DNA derived from ancient human remains, a method has been proposed that identifies sex by considering the number of reads in shotgun DNA sequencing data that align to the X and Y chromosomes [1], which is advantageous over previous PCR-based approaches that targeted sex-specific markers [2,3,4] and that.
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