for well over a millennium, in contrast to other monument types associated with the early Neolithic, such as court tombs or portal dolmens. Grave goods Burials in Irish passage tombs tend to be accompanied by a limited and distinctive range of objects. These grave goods include pins fashioned from bone or red deer antler, carved and polished stone pendants, pieces of quartz, flint or chert tools, stone or chalk balls and a distinctive form of pottery called Carrowkeel ware, named thus because it was first noted in Carrowkeel. The pots, formed of reddish clay, are fashioned in a variety of sizes, but are always round-bottomed, and often decorated with stab and drag patterns. Few intact examples have been recovered, but these include some fine examples from the Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall) passage tomb at the Hill of Tara, County Meath Solar cult After his excavation and restoration work at Newgrange, Michael O'Kelly reported his discovery of a solar alignment on the winter solstice. Such alignments have been claimed for monuments in different parts of Ireland and abroad, for example in Maes Howe, Scotland; Loughcrew, County Meath; Knockroe, County Kilkenny and in Listoghil, the central monument at Carrowmore, County Sligo, International connections The Irish passage tombs bear similarities to examples found in other locations on the Atlantic facade; in particular in Brittany, France; Wales and Scotland. Ancient DNA research has associated the dead in the Irish monuments with early farming migrations to the Atlantic region about 6000 years ago. The ancient ancestral origin of these groups was Anatolia. Familial connections between people buried at Carrowmore, Carrowkeel, Millin Bay and Newgrange have been demonstrated, and the passage tomb populations appear to cluster (in genetic terms) away from occupants of other neolithic monuments and the general Irish neolithic population. This (and an indication of incest in the genetic profile of a male interred in the right recess of Newgrange) has led a team of researchers in Trinity College Dublin to propose that Irish neolithic society was led by dynastic rulers. Lara Cassidy stated, "It seems what we have here is a powerful extended kin-group, who had access to elite burial sites in many regions of the island for at least half a millennium". Unopened monuments Although some of the more high profile Irish passage tombs have been excavated and - sometimes controversially - reconstructed, many monuments remain unexcavated. Many hill