Unveiling the World's Oldest Family Tree: Neolithic DNA Analysis
A 5,700-year-old tomb in Britain has been found to contain five generations of one family, providing unprecedented insight into kinship networks and burial practices during the Neolithic period. The tomb, known as the Hazleton Long Barrow, contains the bones and teeth of many individuals, with 35 preserved well enough for DNA sequencing. The findings reveal that 27 of these individuals were closely related, descending from a single patriarch who had children with at least four women. The tomb's architectural layout suggests how kinship operated at the time, with each half of the tomb used to place the remains of the dead from one of two branches of the same family. This discovery represents the oldest reconstructed family tree ever found and sheds light on the social structure of ancient societies.