A dynastic elite in monumental Neolithic society

Lara M. Cassidy (), Ros Ó Maoldúin, Thomas Kador, Ann Lynch, Carleton Jones, Peter C. Woodman, Eileen Murphy, Greer Ramsey, Marion Dowd, Alice Noonan, Ciarán Campbell, Eppie R. Jones, Valeria Mattiangeli and Daniel G. Bradley ()
Additional contact information
Lara M. Cassidy: Trinity College Dublin
Ros Ó Maoldúin: Trinity College Dublin
Thomas Kador: University College London
Ann Lynch: Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Carleton Jones: National University of Ireland Galway
Peter C. Woodman: University College Cork
Eileen Murphy: Queen’s University Belfast
Greer Ramsey: National Museums NI
Marion Dowd: CERIS, School of Science, Institute of Technology Sligo
Alice Noonan: Trinity College Dublin
Ciarán Campbell: Trinity College Dublin
Eppie R. Jones: Trinity College Dublin
Valeria Mattiangeli: Trinity College Dublin
Daniel G. Bradley: Trinity College Dublin

Nature, 2020, vol. 582, issue 7812, 384-388

Abstract: Abstract The nature and distribution of political power in Europe during the Neolithic era remains poorly understood1. During this period, many societies began to invest heavily in building monuments, which suggests an increase in social organization. The scale and sophistication of megalithic architecture along the Atlantic seaboard, culminating in the great passage tomb complexes, is particularly impressive2. Although co-operative ideology has often been emphasised as a driver of megalith construction1, the human expenditure required to erect the largest monuments has led some researchers to emphasize hierarchy3—of which the most extreme case is a small elite marshalling the labour of the masses. Here we present evidence that a social stratum of this type was established during the Neolithic period in Ireland. We sampled 44 whole genomes, among which we identify the adult son of a first-degree incestuous union from remains that were discovered within the most elaborate recess of the Newgrange passage tomb. Socially sanctioned matings of this nature are very rare, and are documented almost exclusively among politico-religious elites4—specifically within polygynous and patrilineal royal families that are headed by god-kings5,6. We identify relatives of this individual within two other major complexes of passage tombs 150 km to the west of Newgrange, as well as dietary differences and fine-scale haplotypic structure (which is unprecedented in resolution for a prehistoric population) between passage tomb samples and the larger dataset, which together imply hierarchy. This elite emerged against a backdrop of rapid maritime colonization that displaced a unique Mesolithic isolate population, although we also detected rare Irish hunter-gatherer introgression within the Neolithic population.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2378-6

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