A research team has examined DNA of bones and teeth from a Neolithic tomb about 140 kilometres west-northwest of London. Results show 27 of the 35 individuals were biological relatives from five continuous generations of a single extended family. The majority were descended from four women who all had children with the same man.
     Of the Cotswold-Severn type, the Hazleton North long barrow was built around 3700-3600 BCE, some 100 years after cattle domestication and cereal cultivation had been introduced from continental Europe, and 700 years before construction started on Stonehenge.
     Completely excavated from 1979 to 1982, the tomb had two separate entrances, each leading to an L-shaped chamber. Whether individuals were buried in the north or south chamber initially depended on the first-generation woman from whom they were descended, suggesting these first-generation women were socially significant. Men were generally buried with their father and brothers, implying that descent was patrilineal. Males who we would call stepsons were adopted into the lineage. While two of the daughters of the lineage who died in childhood were buried in the tomb, the absence of adult daughters indicates their remains may have been placed either in the tombs of their partners or elsewhere. The architectural layout of other Neolithic tombs might reflect how kinship operated in comparable groups.

Edited from University of York, The Guardian (22 December 2021)