New genetic analysis of two princes within some of Germany’s best-preserved Celtic burial mounds confirms a long-suspected family connection – one that could shake up our understanding of gender relations within Iron Age societies. Based on DNA reconstruction efforts, it appears that at least some Celtic clans revolved around matrilineal rather than patrilineal dynasties. In contrast to the Roman period and the early Middle Ages, written sources from ancient German societies are extremely rare. As a result, very little can be confirmed about certain cultural details, such as gender dynamics. That said, early texts by Roman historians like Tacitus and Ammianus Marcellinus depict women leading and participating in military battles. Another historian of the time, Cassius Dio, also reported greater sexual freedoms among Celtic women. Beyond this, however, there is a large gap in what is known about the Iron Age Celts, apart from inferences from physical artifacts. And when it comes to physical artefacts, few places are richer than the burial mounds of Eberdingen-Hochdorf and Asperg-Grafenbühl. Rich gold finds and the hat made of birch bark from Eberdingen-Hochdorf. Credit: Landesmuseum Württemberg, P. Frankenstein/H. Zwietasch Landesmuseum Württemberg Stuttgart Gold jewelry of the Lady of Ditzingen-Schöckingen. Credit: Landesmuseum Württemberg, H. Zwietasch Landesmuseum Württemberg Stuttga First discovered in the late 1960s, about 10 kilometers apart, they are some of the best preserved princely burial mounds of German prehistory, also known as Fürstengräber. The tombs are believed to have been built around 530 BCE and contain a wealth of relics such as gold-decorated tools, bronze furniture, iron jewelry, daggers and birch bark hats. But while they were clearly intended for royalty, for decades researchers could only speculate about their origins and possible relationships. However, recent advances in genome analysis have allowed analysts to take a closer look at the bodies. As described in a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior, archaeologists used teeth and inner ear bone samples from 31 individuals spread across the mounds to determine the order. the remaining DNA and reconstruct their genomes. Of the many remains, two in particular caught the team’s attention. Bronze cauldron with lion decoration with a capacity of approximately 500 liters. Credit: Landesmuseum Württemberg, P. Frankenstein/H. Zwietasch Landesmuseum Württemberg Stuttgart Reconstruction of the burial mound of Hochdorf. Credit: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, O. Braasch “Based on the fairly accurate dates of death, estimates of the age at death and the genetic similarity of the two princes, only one scenario comes into question as uncle and nephew,” Stephan Schiffels, co-author of the study and archaeogenetics researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EPI) in Leipzig, said in an accompanying announcement. More specifically, Shchiffels and his colleagues determined that the uncle and cousin were related on the mother’s side of the family. “This result shows that political power in this society was most likely inherited through biological succession, similar to a dynasty,” added Joscha Gretzinger. another researcher at the MPI-EVA. The newly discovered relationship is further supported by genomic sequencing of the other bodies of the two mounds, as well as by a third mound built about a century earlier. (Related: Iron Age people mysteriously buried among dogs and horses.) “Overall, we seem to be dealing with a broad network among the Celts in Baden-Württemberg, in which political power was underpinned by biological kinship,” Gretzinger continued. Looking even further at archaeological DNA data, the team believes that the Celts in Eberdingen-Hochdorf and Asperg-Grafenbühl most likely descended from ancestors in present-day France and Italy. French genetics support previously established migration paths, while Italian origins are also reflected in many of the Mediterranean designs of the funerary relics. And while it is not yet known whether these regions also included matrilineal dynasties, there is certainly more evidence to support such theories in the future.
