A group burial of a 4,600-year-old nuclear family, was discovered in Germany Posted on 11/17/2008 9:03:13 AM PST by BGHater
Scientists have uncovered the earliest evidence that Stone Age man lived in nuclear families.
An international team of researchers, including experts from the University of Bristol, used DNA testing to date the remains from four burial sites discovered in Germany in 2005.
The 4,600-year-old graves contained groups of adults and children buried facing each other, which was an unusual practice in Neolithic culture.
A group burial of a 4,600-year-old nuclear family, was discovered in Germany
One of the graves contained a female, a male and two children and the analysis revealed the researchers were a mother, father and their two sons aged around eight or nine and four or five years old.
This is the oldest molecular genetic evidence of a nuclear family in the world.
The burials, discovered and excavated at Eulau, Saxony-Anhalt, were also unusual for the way in which they were buried. The remains of 13 individuals were found in total and all had been interned simultaneously.
Several pairs of individuals were buried face-to-face with arms and hands interlinked and all the burials contained children ranging from new-borns up to 10 years of age and adults of around 30 years or older.
Many showed injuries that indicated they were the victims of a violent raid. One female had a stone projectile point embedded in one of her vertebra and another had skull fractures.
Several bodies also had defence injuries to the forearms and hands.
The researchers used state-of-the-art genetics and isotope techniques to reconstruct along with physical anthropology and archaeology.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
And, amazingly, they all managed to vote in Ohio’s election earlier this month.
Were they perhaps the victims of a violent Gay pride rally?
The Simpsons? The Jetsons? The Einsteins?
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Thanks BGHater. Thought I'd seen this before, but couldn't find it. PING! |
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Hmmm.... I’d be careful trying to compare these people to what we consider the modern nuclear family.
As was the case throughout most of human history, they probably lived in a multi-generational family setting, with three or more generations (including widowed aunts, bachelor uncles and infirm grandparents) living close by.
The post WWII nuclear family of mom, dad and the kids is a historical anomaly.
A family of stone-age researchers. Remarkable.
The article said testing done on the remains indicate they were related as mother, father, and sons. But the article did agree with your assertion that we mustn’t assume this was the norm.
All hetros?
What does this tell you?
No Heckler & Koch back then?
LOL
I think it makes sense to bury a family unit like that together, especially if they were all killed at the same time by raiders or bandits or whatever. I think that's a natural response for any society. I'd guess their surviving tribesmen buried these people after the attack.
look for Prop 8 loony opponents to come stomp on them now.
Some times stompers become stompees your sticks please.
Thankfully ACORN really does represent the unrepresented like this family
The fact that these people were buried together like this suggests that this culture consciously separated the nuclear family from the rest of the group. Pretty neat but I would guess nuclear families as the human norm are at least 10,000 years old.
However, when discussing the position of the bodies, the article points out that it was unusual for children to be positioned facing the parents during that time.
To me, that suggests that finding the families buried together is not unique, but that the positioning of the children is.
Maybe this is the oldest found nuclear from Germany or Europe, rather than the world.
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