ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the balance by shifting the focus away from male activities and mobility and the interpretive bias that assumes technology and knowledge transfers are only mediated by men. The ancient DNA evidence for patrilocal exogamy is patchy as so often they lack the Y chromosome evidence because of its low copy number and generally poor survival. Mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria which are small organelles found in the cytoplasm of cells. Each cell may have hundreds of mitochondria, and each mitochondrion has about ten copies of the small mitochondrial DNA molecule. The mutations are inherited together and form a set of DNA markers that have been classified into haplotypes by comparison to a standard mt DNA sequence called the Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS). Direct genetic evidence for the antiquity of patrilocal exogamy in gatherer-hunters has been obtained in an ancient DNA analysis of a Neanderthal group found in El Sidrn cave, Asturias, Spain.
