Children at the convent: Comparing historical data, morphology and DNA extracted from ancient tissues for sex diagnosis at Santa Clara-a-Velha (Coimbra, Portugal)

During archaeological investigation at the Late Medieval-Modern Convent of Santa Clara-a-Velha (Coimbra, Portugal), a female Mendian Order of the "Cla rissas", more than 70 skeletons, exclusively female, were recovered. Howeve r, two skeletons of children were also found. Taking into account that nuns inhabited the Monastery, with severe restrictions on the entrance of males , the knowledge of the sex of these children acquires particular relevance. Because of the known unreliability of macroscopic methods for the sexual d iagnosis of non-adult skeletons, a palaeogenetic analysis, using amplificat ion by PCR, of sex chromosome specific regions was performed on the ribs of the two subadult individuals (aged around 11 years old). The individual SC V 2 was probably a male, whereas for the other individual (SCV 57), no gene tic amplifications allowing a sex determination were obtained. Despite the uncertainty of the results, these findings will eventually give a new insig ht into the organisation of this Monastic Order in Santa Clara-a-Velha Conv ent, up until about three centuries ago. This study stresses the potential of palaeogenetic methods, in particular for sex determination of fragmentar y and/or non-adult individuals. Copyright 2000 Academic Press