Paleogenetic Analysis of Individuals from Andronovo Double Burials at the Tartas-1 Cemetery, Baraba Forest-Steppe

The article continues a series of multidisciplinary studies of the Tartas-1 cemetery in the Baraba forest-steppe, southwestern Siberia. Here, we present the fi ndings of a paleogenetic analysis of human remains from double burials associated with the Andronovo (Fedorovka) and Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) cultures. Three types of double burials are described: two adults, adult and child, and two children. In all 11 cases of adult burials, pair members belonged to different sexes. Close kinship was detected in only one Late Krotovo pair, where a male was buried with his elderly mother. Other pairs of adults were unrelated. Four adult-subadult burials were those of mothers and their children. Some members of double children’s burials were unrelated, while others were likely maternally related siblings of different age. Certain observations on various types of double burials can be interpreted with regard to Andronovo burial traditions and family/marital structure. Further conclusions would be premature at this stage, because results based on a small sample from a single (albeit the largest) cemetery can hardly be extrapolated to other populations.