Asceticism in Christianity as practiced for centuries can comprise an array of devotional practices from fasting to meditation. Within the two crypts therein, archaeologists were able to categorize many of the bodies as men, women, and children. “In animaldom, Kotli and others developed a methodology to sex ancient remains based on a protein in dental enamel, amelogenin, which differs slightly between males and females,” Haaretz summarizes. But the presence of a Y-linked amelogenin means the tooth in question was in the mouth of a biological male. Since men have both the X- and Y-chromosomes, it’s possible this tooth at one time had a Y-linked amelogenin, which simply didn’t survive as well and wasn’t discovered in the analysis.