These medieval graves looked like family burials. DNA told a different story

When archaeologists uncover adults and children buried together in medieval graves, a natural assumption is that they belonged to the same family. New research from Stockholm University, published in Science Advances, suggests that was often not the case.

Scientists analyzed DNA from 142 people who lived during the late Viking Age and Middle Ages. The group included more than 60 children and adolescents recovered from multiple graves at Sigtuna, near Stockholm, V sterhus in J mtland, and Fj lkinge in Sk ne.

Shared Graves Were Often Not Family Graves

The genetic evidence revealed that close biological relatives were surprisingly uncommon among people placed in the same grave. This was true even in cemeteries where researchers found many biological family connections among the wider population.