Scottish Neolithic tombs were used to trace kinship—including descent, DNA analysis reveals
Archaeologists have investigated genetic relationships between individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland, suggesting monumental tombs may have been physical embodiments of prehistoric kinship, tracing ...
The first Neolithic people in north-west Europe often constructed chambered tombs to inter their remains. Sometimes, these individuals were biologically related to each other, but surviving remains are often fragmented, making connections between tombs and kinship unclear.
"Kinship is a social phenomenon, a measure of social relatedness and belonging which—among many other things—reflects on the biological relatedness of individuals within a community," says co-author of the research, Professor Chris Fowler from Newcastle University.
"How often were tombs used to contain the remains of close genetic relatives? How often were individuals selected for inclusion because they were related along the male line?"
To investigate how funerary architecture displayed and supported kinship connections in Neolithic Europe, researchers analyzed ancient DNA from individuals buried in chambered tombs in Caithness and the Orkney Islands, dating from c. 3800–3200 cal. BC. Their results are published in the journal Antiquity.
They found that many biologically male individuals buried in the same or nearby tombs were close genetic relatives, related to each other through the paternal line.
One of the tombs at Loch Calder, in the Scottish Highlands. Credit: Professor Vicki Cummings
Visualisation of genetic relatedness and chronological relationships between the individuals included in this study. Lines between individuals relate to degree of relatedness: black = first-degree; red = second-degree; orange = third-degree; green = fourth-degree; blue = approximate fourth–fifth degree; grey = approximate fifth-degree. Relatedness beyond the fifth–sixth degree is not shown here. MNI is from the osteological analysis. Credit: Antiquity