Posted on 12/23/2021 06:00

(Credit: Courtesy of the Corinium Museum, Copyright Cotswold District Council)

Thanks to DNA analysis, a team of international researchers has found that one of the UK’s best preserved Neolithic tombs has five generations in a family. Experts have estimated the remains of individuals who introduced agriculture to the area about 5,700 years ago — about 3700 to 3600 BC — and dug up about 100 years ago. Presents data in the latest issue of the specialized journal Nature, revealing the world’s oldest family tree.

The L-shaped sections of the collective tomb, which was assessed by scientists located in Hasleton North in the mountains of Cotswolds-Seven, are divided. Two of these areas were found, 27 of which were found to be close biological relatives.

Most of the group are from four women who have children with the same man. According to scientists, men were generally buried close to their parents and siblings. No evidence was found that the other eight individuals analyzed were biological relatives of the rest of the group, which may indicate that the only criterion for inclusion in the old cemetery was not direct contact, the team considered.

“A few years ago, it was hard to imagine that we would ever know so much about these Neolithic structures and traditions,” said Ron Pinhasi, a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria. Of the authors of the study.

David Reich, a researcher at the Harvard University in the United States and one of the authors of the study, said the data could open the door to similar genetic analysis and help uncover other details about ancestral burial. People. “This study reflects on the future of the study of ancient DNA: archaeologists can evaluate quality, ancient genetic structures and answer questions that really matter to them,” he argues.