The Longest Family Tree in the World

A Bronze age cave dwelling in Germany contains the ancestor to two men living in the same village. Though they knew one another, they had no idea of their relation. Each man's family had been in the area since at least the 18th century but neither had any idea how long their tree actually was. Analysis of well preserved DNA from the 3,000 year-old bones revealed a distinctive pattern shared by both men.

Archaeologists from the area discovered the site at Lichtensteinhöhle cave in 1980 but the human remains weren't discovered by the team until 1993. Researchers from the University of Goettingen believe that the cave was occupied between 1,000 and 700 BCE. Remains of 23 people were found at the site, 14 males and 9 females. Archaeologists believe that the presence of cult items indicate that the location was both a living area and sacrificial burial site. They affirmed that calcium deposits, formed by dripping water passing through limestone in the cave walls, protected the remains. The preservation allowed scientists to extract DNA that revealed the 120 generation lineage.