Researchers have examined 35 individuals’ bones and teeth in one of Britain’s most well-preserved neolithic graves. It is located near Hazleton, Cotswolds. According to Dr Chris Fowler from Newcastle University, the results are “astonishing”.
Researchers discovered that 27 of the relatives were biological cousins from five consecutive generations of one extended family. Most of the descendants were from four different women who had children with the same men.
Fowler said, “It tells me that descent was important.” Fowler said that when they built these tombs and decided who to include, they selected people who were closely related to the first buried there. This close relationship to their immediate ancestors extends over many generations.
“Family was important, and you can see it with the inclusion of some very young kids in the tomb.”
The Hazleton North long-cairn tomb is divided into two chambered L-shaped areas. New research has also shown that the deceased were buried according the descendents of their mothers. The study concluded that these women of the first generation were socially important in the community’s memories.
These prehistoric people lived between 3700-3600BC. They were Britain’s first farmers. The tomb was built 100 years after cereal and cattle cultivation was introduced from continental Europe. Stonehenge, the most famous neolithic monument, would take another 700 years to be built.
Archaeologists have discovered that these people were likely moving around the landscape, and probably had animals to herd. They ate dairy products, had a high-protein diet, and made pots to store and cook food. Recent research has shown that their family ties were also important to them.
This research was done in collaboration with Newcastle University archaeologists and geneticists at the universities of Harvard and Vienna. Nature published the conclusions, which are the first to show in detail the structure of prehistoric families.
Fowler stated that “this research is really important because we can see what’s happening in neolithic societies.” They are using burial practices to trace lines of descent and project their community into the future.
The DNA analysis revealed the ages, genders, and family ties. He said, “We have a more detailed biographical picture that identifies those individuals, which makes them more relatable to us as humans.”
Fowler stated that similar investigations of Irish tombs had revealed that remains weren’t biologically related. This makes the Hazleton Nord discovery “quite extraordinary”.
Researchers also discovered that stepsons are males adopted into the lineage by their mothers. This suggests that “blended” families cannot be just a recent phenomenon.
Inigo Olalde was the lead geneticist in the study. He said that the team used the most recent technologies in ancient DNA recovery to “discover the oldest family tree ever constructed and analyse it to gain insight into the social structure of these ancient societies”.
Fowler stated that the next task was to examine other neolithic graves to determine if a pattern is present.
Ron Pinhasi of the University of Vienna said that it was hard to believe just a few decades ago that we would learn about neolithic family structures. This is only the beginning. There is more to come from Britain, Atlantic France and other areas.
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