Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA
Horses are the most common grave goods found in Icelandic Viking Age graves. Horse skeletons have previously been sexed based on pelvis shape and the presence of canine teeth in male horses over 4–5 years of age. Morphological data has shown that all horses from Icelandic burials that were amenable...
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Language: | English |
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/68759 2023-05-15T16:47:12+02:00 Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne 2018-12-18T16:08:16Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/68759 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-71907 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 EN eng Elsevier Science http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-71907 Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne . Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA. Journal of Archaeological Science. 2019, 101, 115-122 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/68759 1645163 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Journal of Archaeological Science&rft.volume=101&rft.spage=115&rft.date=2019 Journal of Archaeological Science 101 115 122 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 URN:NBN:no-71907 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/68759/2/Nistelberger%2BPalsdottir%2Bet%2Bal%2B2019%2BSexing%2BViking%2BAge%2Bhorses%2Bfrom%2Bburial%2Band%2Bnon-burial%2Bsites%2Bin%2BIceland%2Busing%2Bancient%2BDNA.pdf Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/ CC-BY-NC-ND 0305-4403 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2018 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 2021-03-24T23:30:56Z Horses are the most common grave goods found in Icelandic Viking Age graves. Horse skeletons have previously been sexed based on pelvis shape and the presence of canine teeth in male horses over 4–5 years of age. Morphological data has shown that all horses from Icelandic burials that were amenable to sexing were male. Yet the use of morphological methods to determine sex is problematic since they rely on finding a well-preserved pelvis and/or robust canine teeth. Furthermore, quantitative data underlying the features of the horse pelvis used for sexing is lacking and canine teeth have been reported to occur in mares. In this study we build upon and extend recently developed methodologies to make use of shotgun sequencing of ancient DNA (aDNA) for molecular sexing of Viking Age horse remains. With minimal sequencing effort we identified the sex of the largest collection (n=22) of Viking Age Icelandic horses studied to date, sourced from both burial (n=19) and nonburial (n=3) sites. Our results revealed a male to female sex bias ratio of 18:1 in burial sites, versus 0:3 in nonburial sites. These findings support the significant over-representation of male horses in Viking Age graves in Iceland, yet show that –albeit rare– mares could also be selected for ritual burial in Viking Age Iceland. This costeffective method provides statistical confidence to allow for sexing of highly fragmented archaeological specimens with low endogenous DNA content. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Journal of Archaeological Science 101 115 122 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
op_collection_id |
ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
Horses are the most common grave goods found in Icelandic Viking Age graves. Horse skeletons have previously been sexed based on pelvis shape and the presence of canine teeth in male horses over 4–5 years of age. Morphological data has shown that all horses from Icelandic burials that were amenable to sexing were male. Yet the use of morphological methods to determine sex is problematic since they rely on finding a well-preserved pelvis and/or robust canine teeth. Furthermore, quantitative data underlying the features of the horse pelvis used for sexing is lacking and canine teeth have been reported to occur in mares. In this study we build upon and extend recently developed methodologies to make use of shotgun sequencing of ancient DNA (aDNA) for molecular sexing of Viking Age horse remains. With minimal sequencing effort we identified the sex of the largest collection (n=22) of Viking Age Icelandic horses studied to date, sourced from both burial (n=19) and nonburial (n=3) sites. Our results revealed a male to female sex bias ratio of 18:1 in burial sites, versus 0:3 in nonburial sites. These findings support the significant over-representation of male horses in Viking Age graves in Iceland, yet show that –albeit rare– mares could also be selected for ritual burial in Viking Age Iceland. This costeffective method provides statistical confidence to allow for sexing of highly fragmented archaeological specimens with low endogenous DNA content. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne |
spellingShingle |
Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
author_facet |
Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne |
author_sort |
Nistelberger, Heidi Maria |
title |
Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
title_short |
Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
title_full |
Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
title_fullStr |
Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA |
title_sort |
sexing viking age horses from burial and non-burial sites in iceland using ancient dna |
publisher |
Elsevier Science |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/68759 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-71907 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
0305-4403 |
op_relation |
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-71907 Nistelberger, Heidi Maria Palsdottir, Albina Hulda Star, Bastiaan Leifsson, Rúnar Gondek, Agata Teresa Orlando, Ludovic Barrett, James H. Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn Boessenkool, Sanne . Sexing Viking Age horses from burial and non-burial sites in Iceland using ancient DNA. Journal of Archaeological Science. 2019, 101, 115-122 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/68759 1645163 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Journal of Archaeological Science&rft.volume=101&rft.spage=115&rft.date=2019 Journal of Archaeological Science 101 115 122 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 URN:NBN:no-71907 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/68759/2/Nistelberger%2BPalsdottir%2Bet%2Bal%2B2019%2BSexing%2BViking%2BAge%2Bhorses%2Bfrom%2Bburial%2Band%2Bnon-burial%2Bsites%2Bin%2BIceland%2Busing%2Bancient%2BDNA.pdf |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.007 |
container_title |
Journal of Archaeological Science |
container_volume |
101 |
container_start_page |
115 |
op_container_end_page |
122 |
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1766037289277849600 |