Social and Genetic Relations in Neolithic Ireland: Re-evaluating Kinship

2025/04/01 by Neil Carlin, Jessica Smyth, Catherine J. Frieman +5 · 2 voices · 10 citations
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Ancient history #Anthropology #Archaeology #Ethnology #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Forensic and Genetic Research #Genealogy #Geography #History #Kinship #Paleopathology and ancient diseases #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0959774325000058

published in Cambridge Archaeological Journal 35(3), 435-455 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2025/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

Abstract This paper re-evaluates recent kinship studies in Neolithic Ireland through a close analysis of biomolecular and fine-grained archaeological data. It outlines the rich possibilities these datasets offer when interwoven to enhance our understanding of diverse webs of social relationships. We synthesize a range of archaeological and scientific data to form a new model of kinship and its relationship to shifting traditions of megalith building and funerary and cosmological practices. This model is put in dialogue with recently published genetic data and used to test a variety of explanations for the patterns of biological relatedness revealed using these methods. We argue that the detected genetic patterning is best interpreted as reflecting a reconfiguration of social relations after 3600 bc linked to the consolidation of emergent social and religious communities.

Citations

• The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP)
• Present pasts in the archaeology of genetics, identity, and migration in Europe: a critical essay
• Genetics, archaeology and the far right: an unholy Trinity
• Bodies in Motion: Narratives and Counter Narratives of Gendered Mobility in European Later Prehistory
• Methods for Summarizing Radiocarbon Datasets

Cited by

• Building tombs and entombing the dead as technologies of descent and affinity in Neolithic northern Scotland
• Pigs, pannage, and the solstice: isotopic insights from prehistoric feasting at Newgrange
• Kinship Trouble: What, When, Where, Why, and How—and So What?
• Reconstruction of the lifeways of Central European Late Bronze Age communities using ancient DNA, isotope and osteoarchaeological analyses. [europepmc]

Discussions

• "Social and Genetic Relations in Neolithic Ireland: Re-evaluating Kinship" A major contribution to debates on Neolithic kinship, genetic relatedness & monuments like Newgrange. Led by Dr Neil Carlin & [bsky, 116 points, 4 comments]
• doi.org/10.1017/S0959774325000… [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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