The Genomics of Megaliths: Hierarchy and Heterogeneity in Irish Neolithic Society

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• Dr. Lara Cassidy (Smurfit Institute of Genetics Trinity College Dublin)
• Friday 22 January 2021, 13:15-14:00
• Online via zoom.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Laura Courto.

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJArd-2vqDssGN3r3r9JzlCL9w3NoHlB21an

This presentation explores ancient genomic data from the Irish Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, including individuals sampled from all the major megalithic funerary traditions. We find evidence for a hereditary elite in Irish passage tomb societies. This includes a web of biological kinship connections across large temporal and spatial distances on the island, as well as a case of first degree incest associated with the righthand recess of the main mound at Newgrange. We also find incidences of diversity among the individuals interred within megalithic tombs. This includes the remains of an infant with Down syndrome at Poulnabrone portal tomb and an individual with ancestry derived from the Irish Mesolithic population at Parknabinnia court tomb. Genomic data from two Irish Mesolithic individuals points to an island isolation, which ended with a seemingly rapid maritime colonisation of the island during the Early Neolithic.

This talk is part of the Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• AUB_Cambridge Seminars
• Online via zoom
• Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar Series

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