Aleksandra B. Malyarchuk^1,2,*, Irina L. Kuznetsova^2,**, Tatiana V. Andreeva^1,2,3,***, Svetlana S. Kunizheva^2,3,****, Anna D. Soshkina^2,*****, Ekaterina A. Kleshchenko^4,******, Lidia V. Kuptsova^5,*******, Natalia G. Svirkina^4,********, Natalya A. Birkina^6,*********, Maria V. Dobrovolskaya^4,**********, and Evgeny I. Rogaev^3,7,***********

¹M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
²N.I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics RAS, Moscow, Russia
³Sirius University, Sochi, Russia
⁴Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia
⁵Orenburg State Pedagogical University, Orenburg, Russia
⁶The State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
⁷University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Shrewsbury, USA

*E-mail: a_malyarchuk98@mail.ru
**E-mail: irakuzn@vigg.ru
***E-mail: andreeva@rogaevlab.ru
****E-mail: kunizheva@vigg.ru
*****E-mail: soshkina@vigg.ru
******E-mail: malzeva-ekaterina@mail.ru
*******E-mail: orelin.84@mail.ru
********E-mail: svirkina.natalia@mail.ru
*********E-mail: dulebova_natalya@mail.ru
**********E-mail: mk_pa@mail.ru
***********E-mail: evivrecc@gmail.com

Keywords: cremation, nature of heat treatment, ancient DNA, genetic analysis of cremated remains.

Archaeogenetic study is dynamically improving the techniques for working with different categories of archaeological materials. Bone remains of humans and animals after the fire and high temperatures impact account for a significant proportion of osteological materials. The problem of whether they can be used in genetic research still has no clear answer. High temperature impact significantly aggravates the state of degraded DNA of the archaeological samples. A review of published studies of DNA of the bone from the fire indicate an extremely low probability of preserving endogenous genetic material. The authors studied materials of cremations form two Early Iron Age sites (Sarmatian burial mound near the village of Totskoye, Orenburg Region, and the ground cemetery of the Ryazan-Oka culture Gorodishche 2 in Ryazan Region). The studied samples make it possible to estimate the preservation of endogenous DNA depending on temperature. The previously published results and the authors’ studies provide grounds to formulate basic recommendations for the methodology of assessing the preservation of DNA in bone remains. Publications without information on DNA estimation cannot be considered as a reliable source of valid paleogenetic data.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606325030085