The Celts of the Cornaux Bridge

Where the river Thielle wound toward Lake Neuchâtel — three kilometres from La Tène itself, the site that named the entire late Celtic age — a wooden bridge built around 135 BCE came down, and at least twenty people came down with it. Their bones lay tangled among the fallen deck timbers, sealed so fast in river silt that five skulls still held traces of brain. Nearly all were men. The riverbed around them glittered with the age's offerings: swords, spearheads, a bronze scabbard ceremonially folded, cattle and horses. The injuries speak of a collapse; the scattered dates and the sacred river keep a darker possibility open. Their genomes — the first from Iron Age Switzerland — are thoroughly Celtic Europe, and a quarter of them had come from far away, travellers on a bridge that history swallowed mid-crossing.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Geographic origin, ancestry, and death circumstances at the Cornaux/Les Sauges Iron Age bridge, Switzerland.

Every Ancestrify Global25 report includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances — that is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Celts of the Cornaux Bridge are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about the full G25 analysis.

• 01

  Who were the Celts of the Cornaux Bridge?

  The Celts of the Cornaux Bridge (c. 260–80 BCE, Cornaux, Neuchâtel, Switzerland) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 11 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "Geographic origin, ancestry, and death circumstances at the Cornaux/Les Sauges Iron Age bridge, Switzerland".

• 02

  What does "matching" the Celts of the Cornaux Bridge mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Are they my ancestor?

  No — and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to the Celts of the Cornaux Bridge?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestrify Global25 report — never sold separately. Order the G25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers — browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Chariot Riders of East Yorkshirec. 230–110 BCE

• The Balkan Celtsc. 300–50 BCE

• The Xiongnu Imperial Elitec. 100 BCE–100 CE

• The Qin Ancestorsc. 400–200 BCE

• The Lost City of Teneac. 525 BCE–200 CE

• The Durotriges of Dorsetc. 100 BCE–50 CE

• The La Tène Celts of Bohemiac. 430–230 BCE

• The Bog People of Denmarkc. 800 BCE–100 CE

• The Vergina Royal Tombsc. 400–350 BCE

• The Bog Army of Alken Engec. 100 BCE–150 CE

• The Carthaginiansc. 600–146 BCE

• The Pazyryk Horse-Lordsc. 500–300 BCE