‘God-Kings’ of Ireland? The Theory of a Ruling Caste in the Irish Neolithic Period
The imposing Stone Age tomb of Newgrange has stood on the banks of the River Boyne, north of Dublin, for more than 5,000 years. It has long been a source of fascination – the first dig at the site was in 1699, at the order of then landowner Charles Campbell - and in recent years, DNA analysis has added a dramatic and controversial layer to Newgrange’s story. In 2019 a skull fragment found within the tomb, containing testable DNA. As will be explained, the results seemed to imply something extraordinary: that a caste of ‘God-Kings’ had once ruled the land, deep in prehistory; leaders thought to be imbued with religious or spiritual power. Though only a tentative proposal, this idea challenged ideas of an egalitarian Neolithic (New Stone Age) period in Ireland, which had been upheld since the days of archaeologist V. Gordon Childe in the 1920s. Even more strangely, the notion appeared to have haunting echoes in Irish mythology. This article will outline the background to the study and articulate its findings. It will also propose an explicitly speculative way in which we may be able to understand the strands of evidence for the ‘God-Kings’ of Neolithic Ireland.
Fig 1: Newgrange in its modern, restored form. On the Winter Solstice, the sun shines directly into the entrance seen in the centre.
Background to the Irish Neolithic Period
Newgrange is one of three famous passage tombs near a bend in the River Boyne (known as the ‘Brú na Bóinne’ area), with its companions being the tombs of Dowth and Knowth. Newgrange’s striking circular complex was built around 3100 BCE, some 600 years before Stonehenge. Like Stonehenge, Newgrange has a solar alignment. At sunrise on the winter solstice, sunlight floods into Newgrange’s chambers, illuminating the inner cavities that once held human remains. It is a prominent example of a type of tomb built across Western Europe during the Neolithic period, many of which are also aligned to the sun, such as Maeshowe on Orkney and Gavrinis in Brittany. The reason for this may have been a perceived connection between venerating the ancestors and the changing of the seasons – that the ancestors, with the sun shining on them, could somehow intercede with the elements to ensure that spring would come again to sustain life (Bradley, 1998).
These tombs were constructed by a people now known as the ‘Early European Farmers’, one of three population terms coined by archaeogeneticist Iosif Laziridis and his colleagues to describe distinct groups of people who settled Europe in prehistory (Lazaridis et al, 2014). They originated in Anatolia (modern Turkey) around 8000 BCE, when farming first emerged as a way of life. From 6000 BCE they spread throughout Europe and in around 4000 BCE they were the first people to bring farming to Britain and Ireland, heralding the start of the Neolithic period. They found the land occupied by ‘Western Hunter-Gatherers’, who had inhabited Ireland since around 11,000 BCE. Within a few generations, the Farmers largely replaced the hunters, with DNA evidence showing that, from then on, the British and Irish population was of mostly Farmer descent (Rivollat et al, 2020). They would dominate the area for 1,500 years, stamping their legacy onto the landscape with the stone tombs that still enthral us today. At first glance, their Hunter predecessors seem to have disappeared without trace. However, as we shall see, the evidence from Newgrange suggests that the story may have been much more complicated.
Fig 2: The spread of agriculture, and Early European Farmers, across Europe during the Neolithic Period.
Things get weird
Next, we must fast-forward in time to the first professional excavation of Newgrange, conducted by Irish archaeologist Michael J. O'Kelly from 1962 to 1975. The tomb had been ransacked more than once between prehistory and the 20th century, meaning much of its original contents have been lost to the ages. But among the remains was a partially burned skull fragment, archived and left in obscurity until in 2019, when geneticists from Trinity College Dublin conducted DNA tests on it. The results shifted the history of Neolithic Ireland into a new light.
The study, published by Dr Laura Cassidy and colleagues in 2020, stated that the skull fragment was from an adult male, aged 25 – 40 when he died; they dubbed him NG10. Two factors about his DNA instantly stood out: one, that he was a cousin of individuals found buried in the Carrowkeel Tomb of County Sligo, some 150km west, and at Millin Bay in Ulster, more than 100km north. Secondly, and shockingly, that NG10 was the product of first-degree incest, with his parents being either siblings, or parent and child (Cassidy et al, 2020; p. 385 - 386).
This disturbing discovery challenged previous theories about the Neolithic Irish. Other recent DNA tests, by Associate Professor of Archaeology at University College Dublin Neil Carlin, have shown little evidence of inbreeding, with the population appearing to be sufficiently mobile to avoid such a hazard (Carlin et al, 2025). NG10’s inbred state was therefore likely to have been intentional. And his skull had been found in the most elaborate chamber of Newgrange, indicating that he had been accorded very high status. This posed a further problem – Neolithic Irish society had been theorised to be egalitarian, without rigid social stratification. This notion was based on studies of tombs that appeared communal rather than individualised. For examples, at Poulnabrone Dolmen Tomb in County Clare, around 30 people of mixed ages and genders were found buried together without apparent distinction, in excavations undertaken by Ann Lynch in 1986 – 88. But NG10 seemed to challenge that – he was related to leaders buried in prominent tombs hundreds of kilometres away, and he had been laid to rest at the centre of Ireland’s greatest mausoleum. This implied an inter-related, ruling elite. Worse, his highly inbred state was so shocking that the authors of the paper looked for historical parallels, which pointed to some of history’s ultimate elite castes:
“…the only known definitive acceptances of such mating occur among siblings— specifically within polygynous elites—as part of a rarely observed phenomenon known as ‘royal’ or ‘dynastic’ incest. In all of these documented cases (for example, in pre-contact Hawai‘i, the Inca empire and ancient Egypt) this behaviour co-occurs with the deification of political leaders and is typically limited to ruling families, whose perceived divinity exempts them from social convention.”
This implied that NG10 may have been one of a caste of ‘God-Kings’ who ruled Neolithic Ireland (Cassidy et al, p. 385). Such leaders, like the Pharaohs of Egypt, were understood to have religious as well as earthly power, often because they were thought to descend from the Gods.
Fig 3: Inside Newgrange, this passage leads towards the chambered tomb where NG10s remains were found.
While very tentative and challenging to the accepted wisdom, this theory seemed to make intuitive sense. After all, large structures such as Newgrange would have been extremely labour-intensive to build, requiring a large workforce, technical experts, a logistical chain, and masses of resources. Other such undertakings in the ancient world, such as the Pyramids, were made to happen by a strong central authority. A caste of ‘God-Kings’ sounds like just the kind of rulers who could have achieved this; wielders of absolute temporal and spiritual authority.
Things get weirder
The study went on to point out that this theory seemed to have backing from an unexpected source – Irish Mythology (Cassidy et al, p. 385). The Brú na Bóinne passage tombs appear in old tales called the Dindshenchas, which claim to tell how prominent Irish places were named. Recorded by Christian monks from the 12th century onwards, there is evidence that these tales date back to pre-Christian times. They feature a tribe of Gods, the ‘Tuatha Dé Danann’, who appear prominently as ancient occupants of Ireland. The story of Dowth tomb (a neighbour to Newgrange) tells that a King, Bressal, had his men swear that they would work to build him a great tower to the sky, but they were only willing to work for one day. Bressal’s maiden sister cast a spell which made the midday sun stand still, so that the work would last forever and the tower would reach the heavens. This worked until Bressal had sex with his sister, breaking the spell and restarting the solar cycle. This, the tale claims, was how Dowth got its ancient Irish name: ‘Cnoc Dubada’ (hill of darkness). The study states that in later Middle Irish, Dowth Tomb was also known as ‘Fertae Chuile’, translated as ‘Hill of Sin’ or even literally ‘Hill of Incest’ (Cassidy et al, p. 385).
Fig 4: Dowth Tomb, also known as ‘Cnoc Dubada’ (hill of darkness) or ‘Fertae Chuile’, (‘Hill of Sin’).
For centuries, this tale was seen as fundamentally unknowable, its cultural context lost long ago. But considering the DNA study, Dowth’s story takes on an eerie significance. And other early stories outside the Dindshenchas also mention incest in relation to Newgrange. In one, a convoluted saga called Tochmarc Étaíne, which begins at Newgrange, a King called Eochaid Airem is tricked into fathering a child with his own daughter. In another tale, one version of The birth of Cúchulainn, the Tuatha Dé Danann God called Lugh fathers a supernatural child with a woman at Newgrange, seemingly possessing her father or brother to do so (Mythical Ireland, 2025).
Given the involvement not only of incest but also the Solar cycle in at least one of the stories, we are tempted to believe that this must be more than coincidence. However, if these stories are indeed connected to NG10’s origins, then they must have survived for some 3,000 - 4,000 years before being written down. As the authors of the paper admitted, this ‘has led to unresolved speculation about the durability of oral traditions across millennia’ (Cassidy et al, p. 385). Can such stories, known as ‘Folk Memory’, survive for that long? There is evidence that they can – in Australia, there are Aboriginal Stories which seem to reference events which took place in distant prehistory, such as flooding of the Bassian Land Bridge (which connected Tasmania to the mainland) 12,000 years ago (Duanae Hamacher, 2025). Similarly, the Klamath Native Americans of Oregon still tell a famous tale about a sacred mountain that was the scene of a battle between the spirits of the underworld and the sky, which caused the mountain to collapse, forming a Great Lake – quite likely a story about the eruption of Mount Mazama, which formed Crater lake, 7,700 years ago (David Bressan, 2018).
But the Aboriginal Australians and the Klamath likely enjoyed a long period of cultural and linguistic continuity up until the colonial period. Ireland has not had the same stability. Around 2,200 BCE, the Early European Farmers seem to have been swamped by a new people coming from the European mainland, known to academia as ‘Beaker People’ after their ubiquitous pottery. They brought metallurgy and domesticated horses, along with a new culture and language. They likely replaced much of the Farmer population within a few generations (Cassidy et al, 2015). How could any stories survive that upheaval? Well, what if these stories are not the Farmers’ own tales, but are actually echoes of stories told by the incoming Beaker People, about the farmers whom they replaced?
Things (possibly) Get Even Weirder
What follows is highly speculative, but it is possible that even as the Beaker People replaced the Farmers, they preserved aspects of their culture in their folk stories. While these stories doubtlessly changed over time, certain original elements, such as the involvement of incest, may have survived long enough to be written down in the 12th century after 3,000 years of oral transmission. For example, in the 12th century Book of Leinster, which contains some of the stories considered to date from the pre-Christian period – and they may contain elements which are even more ancient. This may be illustrated by the case of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Irish Mythology as recorded in the Book of Leinster describes them living in an ‘Otherworld’ which can be accessed through portals in Neolithic tombs; they are said to control the passage of the seasons and the fertility of the land; and they were said to have striking blue eyes – which is significant. (Carey, 2006).
The Early European Farmers carried significant genetic input from the previous occupants of Europe, the Western Hunter gatherers. Evidence suggests that many of the Farmers had Paternal DNA inherited from the Hunters. This is extremely odd, as most of the time, when a new group of people come to dominate an area, their paternal DNA takes over. But in Western Europe during the Neolithic period, this pattern was partially reversed – the Hunters disappeared as a distinct people, but their paternal lines were still prominent in the Farmer lineages. Furthermore, the Farmer’s DNA make-up shows a significant increase in DNA input from the Hunter population from the early to the middle of the Neolithic period (Rivollat et al, 2020). Again, this is unexpected from a supposedly ‘subsumed’ people. The explanation may be that Hunter Gatherer physical traits were actively being selected for by the population.
The Hunter Gatherers looked very different from the Early European Farmers. Recent analysis shows that the Hunters generally had a striking combination of dark skin, dark hair and blue or blue-green eyes (Graeme, 2021). The Farmers typically had a more olive complexion, brownish hair and brown eyes. The resurgence in Hunter DNA may reflect a selective preference for traits like blue eyes and dark skin. What is more, analysis of NG10 and his relative from the Carrowkeel tomb suggests that while NG10 had very dark skin, his Carrowkeel cousin had blue eyes, and their paternal DNA was that of the ancient Hunters (Cassidy et al, 2020 – supplementary tables). Therefore, we have two apparently high-status individuals exhibiting strong Hunter Gatherer physical traits, apparently descended from Hunter Gatherer men, and both buried in very prominent tombs.
Reconstructions of the likely physical appearances of a Western Hunter Gatherer
Reconstructions of the likely physical appearances of an Early European Farmer
Perhaps the Farmers, despite replacing the Hunters, had come to revere them as the original custodians of the land, and to view their traits as somehow sacred. It is quite likely that when the Farmers arrived in Western Europe, cutting down forests for farmland, there would have been conflict. But perhaps there was also a period of coming together which altered the long-term relationship between the two peoples, with the Hunters’ being given a special and perhaps religious status – this would explain the unusual prevalence of hunter Y-DNA found in the analysis. Even as the Farmers outnumbered and subsumed them, they may have been revered in the Farmers’ religion. Those with their bloodlines and/or traits may have been seen as divine intermediaries, a ‘shamanic’ caste who could, for example, assure the functioning of the Solar cycle. This would fit in well with connections that were being posited between the Neolithic Monuments and the Solar Cycle, well before the DNA evidence came to light (Bradley, 1998). The bloodlines of this shaman caste may have developed into those of the ‘God-Kings’ suggested by Dr Cassidy. This would explain NG10’s severe inbreeding and very dark skin – it may have been an effort to preserve and amplify the physical traits of the Hunters, if such traits were seen as ‘divine’ – the mark, perhaps, of being a ‘God-King’.
When the Beaker people arrived in Ireland, they may have been intrigued or disturbed by these practices. Even as they largely replaced the Farmers, they may have passed down tales about the shocking ‘God Kings’ they encountered – blue eyed people with powers over the seasons and the sun, who dwelt in their ancient tombs and whose origins lay in incestuous bloodlines. Over time they may have conflated them with tales of their own Gods, so that they became a part of the Tuatha Dé Danann mythology. Thus, real Neolithic elements may have been preserved in these stories, long enough for them to be recorded in the Middle Ages.
Figure 7: Medieval sources such as the Book of Leinster (pictured) are the main sources for Irish Mythology.
Or Maybe Things Weren’t So Weird
As has been stressed, everything above is highly speculative. It is based on evidence which is new and limited. It also contains assumptions about the functioning of ancient culture and folklore which can perhaps never be proved. While the study has caught the imaginations of many, there is much more work to be done before any such argument could be asserted academically. NG10 is so far the only individual from Neolithic Ireland to exhibit first-degree inbreeding. His cousins at Carrowkeel and Millin were not inbred. To make any conclusions based on his example alone would be ill-advised. There is also evidence which goes directly against it - for example, many aspects of the Tuatha Dé Danann do not fit the physical appearance of the Farmers or the Hunters. They are described as fair skinned and coming from ancient cities in the north, which cannot be related to the above theory (although as stated, aspects of the stories would almost certainly have changed and become conflated with others, over time).
Much of this may, of course, be coincidental, despite its eerie allure. Many ancient myths contain elements which are strange to modern sensibilities. Their proximity to Newgrange could simply be a coincidence. We may be reading far too much into limited evidence.
Meanwhile, some academics have directly argued against the ‘God-Kings’ theory. Professor Neil Carlin has asserted that the larger part of the evidence from Neolithic Ireland still implies an egalitarian society. He cites the uniqueness of NG10, and the seemingly communal nature of most tomb burials as supportive of this. In a recent paper, and subsequent BBC interview, he stated that "there are all these indications that this is not about biology or lineages, this is about people being chosen as representatives of their community”, making it clear that in his view, we can’t say that Neolithic Ireland was ruled by a ‘caste’ (Carlin et al, 2025). Academically speaking, he is right – there is not enough evidence on which to overturn a long-accepted paradigm. To do so, we would need more evidence of familial connections between other individuals buried in tombs which are distant from each other, as well as other evidence of inbreeding in individuals predicted to have had Hunter Gatherer physical traits. Until this evidence is available, all we have is a theory.
Figure 8: The entrance of Newgrange – the true nature of the enigmatic society which built the tomb is yet to be settled upon.
The Power of a Compelling Theory
With that said, the way in which the new DNA evidence intersects with Irish mythology is undeniably compelling. If there is even the barest chance that a connection between DNA and mythology is beginning to uncover the secrets of a striking ancient culture – one which prized the legacy of Ireland’s earliest inhabitants and went to disturbing lengths to preserve them – then this possibility must be investigated and communicated. There must surely be room in history for the consideration of compelling ideas for which there is evidence (if only limited evidence), so long as we are explicit that these ideas remain unproven. The ‘God-Kings’ theory could suggest that traditions stretching back thousands of years, that preserved a memory of a truly ancient religion and of Ireland’s earliest post-ice age inhabitants, survived long enough to be written down. If true, this tells us something about the value and resilience of traditional forms of history; the ability of ancient legacies to survive in the human imagination for millennia, and the historical value that may still lie hidden in many of humanity’s obscure and ancient tales.
By Mike Edwardson
Bibliography
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Images
Figure 1: Finn, Tjipp, “A Front view of Newgrange”, 26 August 2016, 17:55. Wikimedia License CC BY 4.0
Figure 2: Gronenborn, Detlef; Horejs, Börner; Ober, “Spread of agriculture in Europe”, 2021. Wikimedia License CC BY 4.0
Figure 3: O’Dea, “A section of the passage leading towards the chamber of the Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland” 12 August 2019, 11:55. Wikimedia License CC BY 4.0
Figure 4: Ní Mhuiregán, Yvonne, “Dowth Megalithic Tomb, Co. Meath”, 15 May 2014, 20:55. Wikimedia License CC BY 4.0
Figure 5: Ustorf, Werner, “Cheddar Man Reconstruction, National History Museum, London”, 28 November 2019. Wikimedia License CC BY-SA 2.0
Figure 6: De Stefano, Matteo/MUSE, “Reconstruction of Neolithic Person, Science Museum in Trento”, Unknown Date. Wikimedia License CC BY-SA 3.0
Figure 7: The Book of Leinster (Public Domain)
Figure 8: Murphy, Spud, “Newgrange Front Entrance”, 27 June 2008. Wikimedia License CC BY-SA 2.0
Cover Image Centre: By mozzercork - https://www.flickr.com/photos/98382796@N00/482745633, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2053156