DNA Analysis Reveals Shocking Facts About Stone Age Burial Site

An analysis of DNA extracted from skeletons revealed that the inhabitants of a Stone Age burial ground in France were mostly male and of the same lineage, according to a study published Aug. 28 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The excavation site, located in a limestone cave in Southern France, contained 75 mostly adult cadavers belonging to the 5,000-year-old community in Aven de la Boucle. Archaeologists analyzed the genomes of 37 of those individuals, and radiocarbon dated many of the bones found around the site.