X-KIN · Exploring patterns of prehistoric kinship from socio-cultural anthropological perspectives

Exploring patterns of prehistoric kinship from socio-cultural anthropological perspectives

Over the past decade, the rapid expansion of ancient DNA (aDNA) research has transformed the study of prehistoric communities by making biological relatedness newly visible in the archaeological record. This “ancient DNA revolution” has triggered a renewed focus on prehistoric kinship, yet within archaeogenetics kinship is typically reduced to genetic proximity. This narrow conception overlooks a large body of socio-cultural anthropological research demonstrating that kinship is always more than shared biology: it is created, negotiated, and lived through everyday practices, forms of co-residence, ritual obligations, and the symbolic significance of dwelling places. In many small-scale societies, houses—not genes—are the primary anchors of belonging, inheritance, memory, and group identity. This tension between biological and social understandings of relatedness forms the core motivation for X-KIN: Exploring Patterns of Prehistoric Kinship from Socio-Cultural Anthropological Perspectives. The project addresses a critical need: without integrating social sciences and humanities (SSH) perspectives, current interpretations of prehistoric kinship risk reifying genetic data as social fact, thereby limiting our ability to recognize diverse ways of being related in the past. X-KIN responds to the political and strategic context in which ancient DNA findings increasingly shape public and academic narratives about identity, ancestry, and migration. By promoting interdisciplinary integration, X-KIN advances more nuanced, responsible, and socially informed interpretations of prehistoric social organization. X-KIN focuses on four major archaeological sites in southeastern Europe and Anatolia—Çatalhöyük, Lepenski Vir, Arslantepe, and Vučedol—regions central to debates about social complexity, Neolithic transformations, and Bronze Age innovations. These sites provide unique opportunities to integrate biological signatures, architectural patterns, settlement organization, and mortuary practices. Through triangulation of archaeological data, bioarchaeological markers, and ethnographic insights, the project reads these materials as “material codes” of prehistoric kinship. Rather than using ethnography to verify prehistoric practices, X-KIN treats cross-cultural materials as heuristic tools to illuminate the variability and fluidity of kinship relations. The overall objectives of X-KIN are threefold: 1. To develop an interdisciplinary analytical framework that integrates socio-cultural anthropology, prehistoric archaeology, and bioarchaeology for interpreting kinship in prehistory. 2. To provide comparative analyses across regions and case studies that reveal how houses, built environments, and social practices shaped kin relations beyond biogenetic connections. 3. To demonstrate the added value of SSH integration for improving interpretations of ancient DNA findings and for refining public narratives of ancestry and identity. The expected impacts of X-KIN are significant. Scientifically, the project will strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration and offer a corrective to overly geneticized interpretations of the past. Strategically, it will contribute to broader European agendas emphasizing responsible research practices, cultural heritage engagement, and dialogue between STEM fields and SSH disciplines. At societal level, X-KIN’s findings help counter essentialist understandings of identity by demonstrating the multiplicity of kinship forms that shaped prehistoric communities. By revealing how social ties were constituted through houses, spaces, and shared practices rather than genes alone, the project contributes to a more inclusive and complex understanding of human belonging. In sum, X-KIN sets the scene for rethinking prehistoric kinship as a dynamic intersection of biological, social, and material relations. It charts a project pathway toward impactful, nuanced interpretations that resonate across scientific, cultural, and public domains.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз