Beyond broad strokes: sociocultural insights from the study of ancient genomes

TL;DR

Recent advances in ancient DNA analysis have expanded our understanding of human history by revealing sociocultural behaviors, local societal structures, and technological practices through interdisciplinary research methods.

Contribution

This review highlights how integrating multidisciplinary approaches has provided new sociocultural insights from ancient genomes, moving beyond broad population movements.

Findings

Ancient DNA reveals details of inheritance and marriage practices.

Studies show technological diffusion in ancient societies.

Local sociocultural dynamics are now being reconstructed from genomic data.

Abstract

The amount of sequence data obtained from ancient samples has dramatically expanded in the last decade, and so have the types of questions that can now be addressed using ancient DNA. In the field of human history, while ancient DNA has provided answers to long-standing debates about major movements of people, it has also recently begun to inform on other important facets of the human experience. The field is now moving from not only focusing on large-scale supra-regional studies to also taking a more local perspective, shedding light on socioeconomic processes, inheritance rules, marriage practices and technological diffusion. In this review, we summarize recent studies showcasing these types of insights, focusing on the methods used to infer sociocultural aspects of human behaviour. This work often involves working across disciplines that have, until recently, evolved in separation. We argue that multidisciplinary dialogue is crucial for a more integrated and richer reconstruction of human history, as it can yield extraordinary insights about past societies, reproductive behaviours and even lifestyle habits that would not have been possible to obtain otherwise.