Emily Chan
A 5,000-year-old cemetery in southern Spain has twice as many females as men, but archaeologists are unsure why that is. The burial ground is known as Panoría cemetery and contains a series of rock chamber tombs.
According to the University of Granada, the site was excavated between 2015 and 2019. The first burials were interred around 5,600 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. The site was used on and off until about 4,100 years ago.
Among the burials, there are a total of 55,000 human remains. The remains belonged to at least 91 individuals. Scientists determined the gender of 44 of them. Overall, 27 were females and 17 were males.
The difference in gender was more noticeable among the juveniles, with six females and one male. For the adults, there were 21 females and 16 males, which comes out to a ratio of five females per less than four males. When the adults and non-adults are added together, the ratio is three females per less than two males.
“The Panoría population shows an extremely unbalanced demographic pattern favoring females that cannot be explained by natural dynamics or extraordinary and unpredictable events,” wrote the study authors.
To identify the gender of the deceased, the scientists analyzed the skeletons, particularly the head and pelvis.
Ancient DNA was preserved in some of the skeletal remains, allowing the team to look for XX or XY chromosomes.
Then, they examined amelogenin peptides in the tooth enamel. The peptides are encoded by a gene that is only present on the X chromosome.
By studying this protein, the team was able to obtain a reliable profile of the gender distribution within the population.
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