Anthropologists frequently use diagrams to illustrate kinship relationships.
The symbols shown here are usually employed. They may be combined, as in the example below on the right, to represent a family consisting of a married couple and their children. I n kinship diagrams, one individual is usually labeled as ego . This is the person to whom all kinship relationships are referred. M ost cultures severely limit the range of people through whom descent is traced by using a unilineal descent principle.