Mycenae Revisited Part 2. Exploring the Local versus Non-local Geographical Origin of the Individuals from Grave Circle A: Evidence from Strontium

In the Annual for 2000 we reported on a pilot project in which we had—successfully— searched for traces of ancient DNA (aDNA) in the skeletal remains from Grave Circle B at Mycenae, as part of a cross-disciplinary project seeking to discover links of kinship between the different groups of graves in which we used the methods of facial reconstruction and of epigenetic variation as well as DNA analysis (Brown et al. 2000). We believed that such an approach might cast light on dynastic links in a period of prehistory where there could be no texts to tell the story, and we ended that report on an optimistic note: advances in molecular biology and the concomitant development of techniques for studying aDNA made it likely that as well as establishing kinship relationships between burials or groups of burials (Brown 2001), in conjunction with bone isotope studies (Price 1989) it would be possible to identify individuals who might be incomers to a particular site. This would be especially interesting if applied to sites such as the Grave Circles at Mycenae, where the remains are presumed to be those of individuals who held high status in their societies, and whose family relationships might reveal the underlying processes by which such status was acquired