World’s Oldest Family Tree

In News 

• Recently, Scientists compiled the world’s oldest family tree from human bones interred at a 5,700-year-old tomb in the Cotswolds, UK.

About 

• The research is a collaboration between archeologists from the universities of Newcastle, Central Lancashire, Exeter and York, and geneticists from the universities of Harvard, Vienna and the Basque country. 
• It was published in the Nature journal, claims to be the first of its kind to reveal in detail how prehistoric (the period before written records existed) families were structured. 
  • It provides new insights into burial and kinship practices prevalent in the Neolithic times.
• Findings: 
  • The team of scientists analyzed DNA extracted from the bones and teeth of 35 individuals who were entombed at the Hazelton North cairn in the Cotswolds-Severn region of Britain. 
    • The researchers have discovered that 27 were biological relatives from five continuous generations of a single extended family. 
      • The presence of the remaining eight, who could not be determined to be close relatives, suggests that biological relatedness was perhaps not the only criterion for inclusion into the tomb.
  • Most of the people buried in the tomb were descended from four women who had children with the same man.

•  The right to use the tomb for burial was determined through the patrilineal ties, the decision to bury the individuals in either the north or the south chamber initially depended on the first-generation woman from whom they had descended.
  • It is suggesting that these first-generation women were socially significant in the memories of this community.

Image Courtesy: the guardian

Source: IE