Leipzig researchers: Early Celtic princes in Baden-Württemberg passed on dynastic succession
Stephan Schiffels, Joscha Gretzinger, tvo/pm et al.
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Latest genetic analyses confirm close kinship between two Early Celtic high-status burials in Baden-Württemberg and provide new insights into power structures of early Celtic elites. The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig analysed dental and inner-ear bone samples from 31 individuals from burial mounds dated around 500 BCE, sequenced remaining DNA and reconstructed genomes. Two central burials (Hochdorf and Asperg-Grafenbühl) show much closer genetic relatedness than the rest of the group; the researchers evaluated possible kin relationships (brothers, half-siblings, grandfather–grandson, uncle–nephew) and, combining genetic similarity with precise death dates and age-at-death estimates, conclude the most likely relationship is uncle and nephew (specifically: the sister of the Hochdorf prince was the mother of the Asperg prince). The results suggest political power among these Celts in Baden-Württemberg was likely inherited biologically (dynastic succession) and that a broad kinship network supported elite power, with related individuals also identified in other barrows including the earlier Magdalenenberg mound.
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