Incest uncovered at the elite prehistoric Newgrange monument in Ireland

Sheridan, Alison

doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01655-4

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17 June 2020

Incest uncovered at the elite prehistoric Newgrange monument in Ireland

The huge, elaborate, 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange, Ireland, is thought to have been built for a powerful elite. DNA of a man buried there reveals a case of incest. Was this a strategy to maintain a dynastic bloodline?

Alison Sheridan⁰

Alison Sheridan
1. Alison Sheridan is a research associate and emerita principal curator in the Department of Scottish History and Archaeology, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK.
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A study of the DNA of Ireland’s Stone Age inhabitants has produced spectacular results, with far-reaching consequences for our understanding of prehistoric population movement and the structure of that ancient society. Writing in Nature, Cassidy et al.¹ report their striking discoveries from this project.

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Nature 582, 347-349 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01655-4

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