Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

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?
  1. 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.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

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.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 582, 347-349 (2020)

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

References

  1. Cassidy, L. M. et al. Nature 582, 384–388 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sheridan, J. A. in Entre archéologie et écologie, une préhistoire de tous les milieux. Mélanges offerts à Pierre Pétrequin (eds Arbogast, R.-M. & Greffier-Richard, A.) 303–314 (Presses univ. Franche-Comté, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cassidy, L. M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 368–373 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sánchez-Quinto, F. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 9469–9474 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Brace, S. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 3, 765–771 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Woodman, P. Ireland’s First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic (Oxbow, 2015).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Thomas, J. The Birth of Neolithic Britain: An Interpretive Account (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Sheridan, J. A. in The Neolithic of Europe: Papers in Honour of Alasdair Whittle (eds Bickle, P., Cummings, V., Hofmann, D. & Pollard, J.) 298–313 (Oxbow, 2017).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Sheridan, J. A. J. Irish Archaeol. 3, 17–30 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Rivollat, M. et al. Sci. Adv. 6, eaaz5344 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Faculty Position

    The Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology (ICOB), Academia Sinica, Taiwan, is seeking candidates to fill multiple tenure-track faculty position

    Taipei (TW)

    Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica

  • Postdoctoral Associate

    Houston, Texas (US)

    Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

  • Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Energy

    Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Energy Location: New York, Jersey City, Philadelphia or London — Hybrid Working Application Deadline:...

    New York City, New York (US)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Open Rank Tenure-track/Tenured Faculty Positions in the Department of Genetic and Genomic Sciences

    Seeking expertise in areas including Cancer Genetics; Artificial Intelligence; Drug Development & Clinical Trials; Functional Genomics; & Gene Editing

    New York City, New York (US)

    Mount Sinai Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences

  • Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Robotics

    The Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT, www.mavt.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich invites applications for the above-mentioned position.

    Zurich city

    ETH Zurich

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links