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We have pitifully little ancient DNA from the Near East. So a new study is more than welcome, even though only one mtDNA haplogroup was extracted. J. Tomczyk and his Polish colleagues investigated an interesting Early Bronze Age tomb at Terqa, on the west bank of the Middle Euphrates.
The tomb was carefully built of stone, and a mass of pottery was left with the two people interred - a man and a woman. So who were they? Clearly they had a high status among their community.
Terqa was presumably founded by the Amorite tribes around 3000 BC. It was of the same culture as its powerful neighbour, the Amorite town of Mari (Tell Hariri), which controlled the trade route along the Euphrates. The Amorites spoke a Semitic language related to modern Hebrew. They adopted cuneiform writing from southern Mesopotamia and left records in their own language.
The male skeleton in the tomb was of a man 45–50 years old. He was tall (about 179 cm) and heavily muscled. The bronze parts of a coat and belt, together with bronze weapon-blades were found beside him. So he may have been a warrior. Unfortunately his aDNA could not be extracted.
The female yielded mtDNA haplogroup K. She was about 40–44 years old and bore signs of overweight. Obesity is another clue that these were high-status individuals, for most people of the time worked too hard to have any surplus intake of calories.
J. Tomczyk et al., Anthropological analysis of the osteological material from an ancient tomb (Early Bronze Age) from the middle Euphrates valley, Terqa (Syria), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, online before print.
The tomb was carefully built of stone, and a mass of pottery was left with the two people interred - a man and a woman. So who were they? Clearly they had a high status among their community.
Terqa was presumably founded by the Amorite tribes around 3000 BC. It was of the same culture as its powerful neighbour, the Amorite town of Mari (Tell Hariri), which controlled the trade route along the Euphrates. The Amorites spoke a Semitic language related to modern Hebrew. They adopted cuneiform writing from southern Mesopotamia and left records in their own language.
The male skeleton in the tomb was of a man 45–50 years old. He was tall (about 179 cm) and heavily muscled. The bronze parts of a coat and belt, together with bronze weapon-blades were found beside him. So he may have been a warrior. Unfortunately his aDNA could not be extracted.
The female yielded mtDNA haplogroup K. She was about 40–44 years old and bore signs of overweight. Obesity is another clue that these were high-status individuals, for most people of the time worked too hard to have any surplus intake of calories.
J. Tomczyk et al., Anthropological analysis of the osteological material from an ancient tomb (Early Bronze Age) from the middle Euphrates valley, Terqa (Syria), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, online before print.
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