Scientists revealed the secret of ancient Irish tombs

The Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath in eastern Ireland is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The massive passage mounds, so-called "passage tombs," have long been considered burial places for noble representatives of ancient Irish society. However, a new international team of scientists has completely changed this understanding. The work is published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal (CAJ).

Archaeologists studied the DNA of remains found in these burials. The results showed that the tombs are a complex system of seasonal gatherings, joint rituals, and distant kinship ties, reflecting a more collective, "networked" model of society.

It turned out that most people buried in large tombs, such as Newgrange, were not close relatives - their kinship connections are five or more generations apart. At the same time, genetic analysis showed that these people were still more connected to each other than to the rest of Ireland's population at that time, forming a unique genetic cluster.

Researchers explain this not by social isolation or caste system, but rather by shared cultural practices and rituals. People who participated in the construction and ceremonies in these tombs were more likely to marry among themselves - not by order, but simply because these were the people they encountered during seasonal meetings and ceremonies.

"We see a picture of nomadic groups that regularly gathered in certain places to honor the dead, exchange news, form alliances, and possibly have children," the study authors explained. "This formed dense but territorially distributed networks of connections, not based on a clear social hierarchy."

Chemical analysis of the remains confirms: people buried in Newgrange and similar tombs came there from different regions of Ireland. Along with them, artifacts, food, and building materials were brought to the rituals, which emphasizes the significance of these gatherings as centers of collective life and the formation of a common identity.