IFL Science
By Stephen Luntz
July 25, 2023
A 5,700-year-old tomb has been found to contain five generations of one family, buried over the course of a century. The find provides unprecedented insight into kinship networks in Britain shortly after the introduction of farming – even the bodies’ placement reveals much about how society was structured at the time.
The Hazleton Long Barrow contains bones and teeth of many individuals, with 35 preserved well enough that scientists successfully sequenced their DNA. The findings reveal 27 of these were closely related. Most descended from a single patriarch who had children with at least four women.