Great @ConversationUS piece in which R. Pope not only discusses the recent #aDNA 🏺🧬 evidence of #IronAge #matrilocality in Dorset (SW England), but also the whole 165+ year old archaeological debate about #matriarchal societies:

https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-study-shows-women-at-the-centre-of-societies-in-iron-age-britain-supporting-decades-of-archaeology-247810

Ancient #genomes reveal an #Iron_Age society centered on #women.

#matrilocality #celtic_gaelic #Britain

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ancient-genomes-reveal-iron-age.html

Now this is how #aDNA *and* the #archaeological record are teaming up - The fascinating case of #IronAge Britain's #matrilocality:

🏺 https://www.science.org/content/article/part-ancient-britain-was-woman-s-world-ancient-burials-reveal by @spoke32 via @sciencemagazine

Part of ancient Britain was a woman’s world, burials reveal

2000-year-old graves suggest women wielded as much - and sometimes more - power than men in some Celtic tribes.

https://www.science.org/content/article/part-ancient-britain-was-woman-s-world-ancient-burials-reveal

#Archeology #science #news #matrilocality #history #celts #Britain

Well interesting, #matrilocality of the Durotriges people:

'In southern Britain, the Late Iron Age Durotriges tribe often buried women with substantial grave goods. Here we analyse 57 ancient genomes from Durotrigian burial sites and find an extended kin group centred around a single maternal lineage, with unrelated (presumably inward migrating) burials being predominantly male. Such a matrilocal pattern is undescribed in European prehistory, but when we compare mitochondrial haplotype variation among European archaeological sites spanning six millennia, British Iron Age cemeteries stand out as having marked reductions in diversity'

#archaeology #IronAge #kinship #genome #mtDNA

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08409-6

Ancient genomes reveal Iron Age society centered on women
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250115124453.htm

* groundbreaking study finds land inherited through female line in Iron Age Britain
* husbands moved to live w. their wife's community
* 1st time such a system has documented in European prehistory

Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08409-6

#history #prehistory #Britain #anthropology #genetics #matrilocality #matriarchal #IronAge #AncientDNA