Evidence for Dynastic Succession Among Early Celtic Elites in Central Europe

Evidence for dynastic succession among early Celtic elites in Central Europe

The early Iron Age (800 to 450 BCE) in France, Germany and Switzerland, known as the ‘West-Hallstattkreis’, stands out as featuring the earliest evidence for supra-regional organization north of the Alps. Often referred to as ‘early Celtic’, suggesting tentative connections to later cultural phenomena, its societal and population structure remain enigmatic. Here we present genomic and isotope data from 31 individuals from this context in souther…

DNA analysis may change our understanding of how civilisation unfolded

Cutting-edge new DNA analysis of skeletons has revealed the people in this prehistoric outpost of civilisation may have venerated women as the centre of society.