A new study published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal suggests that archaeologists may have been mistaken about the identity of the people buried in Ireland's ancient megalithic tombs and their relationships. New DNA analysis of 55 skeletons found in 5,000-year-old graves indicates that the tombs were constructed for local inhabitants, not a ruling dynasty.
Archaeologists have long debated who was buried in these megalithic monuments and whether the tombs served other purposes, such as rituals, ceremonies, or displays. The prevailing view was that these burial mounds belonged to political or religious elite families, but new DNA data questioned this assumption, according to Live Science.
Neil Carlin suggests that the megalithic monuments may not be royal tombs but places where different communities came together seasonally to work, celebrate, and bury their dead. "Instead of considering the Neolithic as an age when powerful dynasties ruled, researchers see it as a society of equals to a large extent," Carlin said, according to Live Science.
Carlin and his team noted that most individuals buried in the passage tombs were not close relatives, which disproves the idea that these tombs belonged only to dynastic families. The researchers wrote in the study, "We cannot say that these tombs were the final resting places of a dynastic lineage who restricted access to 'burial' within these tombs to their relatives."
During the Irish Neolithic period, which lasted approximately from 3900 to 2500 BCE, people built megalithic monuments—large stone structures that contained human bones and cremated remains—serving much broader and more diverse communities than previously thought, rather than just elites and intertwined dynasties. Archaeologists have identified four different types of ancient tombs in Ireland, including three simple types used in the early Neolithic and a fourth type called "developed passage graves" that emerged around 3300 BCE.
These passage graves have a circular mound that could be entered through a stone corridor. Many passage tombs, including the Newgrange passage tomb, still adorn the landscape of Ireland and are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. In the later Neolithic period, DNA analysis showed that most individuals buried in larger passage tombs were diverse and more distantly related.
Researchers believe the importance of megalithic monuments to Neolithic people, coupled with the lack of familial ties in the tombs, indicates changes in attitudes toward family during that time. By looking closely at the DNA evidence and at the differences in burials throughout the Neolithic period, the researchers discovered a major shift after the first four centuries of farming in Ireland.
"What caused this shift isn't clear," the researchers noted. They suggest that the clusters of passage tombs in Neolithic Ireland show that disparate groups of people came together, perhaps seasonally, to participate in ceremonial activities together. "We argue that this reflects how the kin groups using these tombs were interacting on a larger scale and more frequently choosing to have children with others from within these extended communities," Carlin said.
Early DNA studies have shown that the people who built these megalithic monuments were farmers who herded cattle and grew grain. The megalithic monuments in Ireland clearly marked burial sites, containing human bones and cremated remains. Although they served as burial sites, archaeologists dispute who was buried in them and whether the tombs served other purposes.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.