DNA Unveils Secrets of Medieval Cave Community

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DNA Unveils Secrets of Medieval ***** Community

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/The Conversation

In a new study, we have sequenced DNA from a ********** community in medieval Spain that lived in artificial caves carved into a rocky outcrop.

This is one of 

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 known to have lived on the Iberian peninsula – which includes both Portugal and Spain. Why these groups favored caves over more conventional village dwellings is a subject of longstanding debate for archaeologists. While it may be tempting to speculate about hermits or religious groups, there’s scant evidence to support such theories.

DNA Tells the Story

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published in Science Advances, explores the possibilities, adding genetic analysis to what we know about the physical ******** of people from the site’s *********. DNA was able to shed light on the ancestry of this community, their relationships to each other and the ********* that afflicted them.

The combined information reveals a story of inbreeding, occasional bouts of ********* and ******** during a fascinating ******* in history. One possibility is that some of the earliest settlers were people with military experience, though it’s unclear whether they were professional soldiers or not.

The settlement existed from the mid-sixth century to the 11th century AD. The early Middle Ages was a dynamic and tumultuous era in many parts of Europe, including the Iberian peninsula. After the fall of the western Roman Empire in AD476, Iberia came under the rule of the 

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, who came from northern Europe.

The 

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 collapsed following a conquest by ******* armies crossing from North ******* in AD711. This event established a territory known as 

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 which, at its greatest extent, covered much of Iberia. But ********** kingdoms persisted in the north of the peninsula and 

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.

What we know about the ******* in this part of the world has been dominated by events in Iberia’s major cities at the time, such as Toledo, Granada and Cordoba. These were hubs of trade, diplomacy and power.

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Skulls from Las Gobas showing evidence of *********. (Lourdes Herrasti, Author provided,no reuse)

The rural site of Las Gobas offers a glimpse into life away from these urban centers, in one of the distinctive *****-dwelling communities known from this *******.

Located in Burgos province, northern Spain, near the village of Laño, Las Gobas features a ********* that was used continuously from the seventh to the 11th century. It was initially connected to a *******, also built within the ***** complex. By the tenth century, the inhabitants had moved to a more typical rural village, though the ***** ******* and ********* remained in use 

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.

Archaeological excavations at the ********* have uncovered the ******** of 41 people. We subjected 39 of them to genetic analysis, and 33 provided enough DNA for **** identification (22 males and 11 females). Some 28 ******** yielded enough DNA for further investigation with a variety of genetic techniques.

Sword Blows

First, we found that the inhabitants were overwhelmingly of local Iberian ancestry with very minimal contribution from North Africans – despite their proximity to the northern edge of Al-Andalus.

This aligns with historical records indicating limited genetic influence from North ******** populations in northern Iberia during the middle ages. Nonetheless, some migration did occur, evidenced by several people with higher North ******** ancestry after the ******* conquest.

Two of the skeletons dating to the early phase of settlement exhibited signs of *********, which probably resulted from sword blows to the head. The two individuals were genetically closely related. Amazingly, one of them survived an injury that cut through the skull. These skeletons, however, come from a time before the ******* conquest, so their injuries were not caused by conflicts along the Al-Andalus border.

This ******* saw elevated levels of inbreeding, with approximately 61% of the sample where there was enough genomic data to analyze showing signs of inbreeding (14 out of 23). This suggests that the population at this time practiced endogamy – marrying only within the community.

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Burials excavated at the Las Gobas site. (GPAC, Author provided, no reuse)

Together with the evidence for inbreeding, we can see that several of the earliest males are close kin because there are only relatively small variations observed in their Y-chromosome (a package of genetic material passed from father to sons). This suggests that the site could have been populated in the seventh century AD by a small patrilocal (where couples settle in the husband’s home or community) group that may have had experience of warfare.

The early phase of the Las Gobas settlement also revealed several cases of the bacterium  Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, which causes a skin ******** in humans. More interestingly, the bacterium often originates in domestic animals. The bacterium was also present in the settlement’s latter phase, but at a lower frequency.

Smallpox Source

The presence of this bacterium, commonly found in pigs, suggests that keeping these livestock animals was an essential part of the community’s lifestyle. Furthermore, one of the people infected with  E rhusiopathiae was also carrying  Yersinia enterocolitica, a bacterium known to infect humans through bad meat or bad water.

Endogamy remained a strong feature throughout the population’s history, even as the community transitioned from ***** dwellings to a more typical rural settlement in the tenth century. During this later phase, we detected DNA from the variola virus, responsible for smallpox, in a tenth-century individual.

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View of the Las Gobas ***** site. (GPAC, Author provided no reuse)

Smallpox, with its 

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, has been suggested by some researchers to have reached Iberia 

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. However, the Las Gobas smallpox strain resembled those found in Scandinavia, Russia and Germany during the same *******. Therefore, it appears as if at least one pandemic route was from the east.

Increased mobility, exemplified by the growing importance of the northern city of Santiago de Compostela for ********** pilgrims in the ninth and tenth centuries, may even have helped spread the virus. In all these ways, Las Gobas stands out as a unique site spanning the turbulent early medieval ******* in Iberia.

It reveals a community marked by isolation, ********* and devout worship. What started as a *****-dwelling group evolved into a typical rural village that endured its share of ********. As such, the site offers a rare and detailed glimpse into the lives of people whose stories are often eclipsed by history told from the perspective of major urban centers and their elites.

Top image: Las Gobas ***** entrance. Source: GPAC, Author provided

This article was originally published under the title

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by

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  on 

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, and has been republished under a Creative Commons License.

References

Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela et al. ‘ Five centuries of consanguinity, isolation, health, and conflict in Las Gobas: A Northern Medieval Iberian necropolis.’ Sci. Adv.10,eadp8625(2024). DOI:

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#DNA #Unveils #Secrets #Medieval #***** #Community

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