Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain
The DNA of more than 500 individuals who were buried in the north-east of England over a period of several centuries before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 has been sequenced. It reveals a society organised around women, with large clans for which descent could be traced down the female line for up to nine generations, but where fathers were often absent from burial sites.
It was suggested in the 1860s that early societies were female-led, but the idea was rejected by later anthropologists, who assumed male-led societies were the natural order. From the 1950s onwards, however, discoveries in Europe of lavish burials of ancient women showed that in some societies women could be of high status at the very least.
Read more: newscientist.com/article/2584364-dna-reveals-a-society-organised-around-women-in-pre-roman-britain
DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain
The DNA of more than 500 individuals who were buried in the north-east of England over a period of several centuries before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 has been sequenced. It reveals a society organised around women, with large clans for which descent could be traced down the female line for up to nine generations, but where fathers were often absent from burial sites.
It was suggested in the 1860s that early societies were female-led, but the idea was rejected by later anthropologists, who assumed male-led societies were the natural order. From the 1950s onwards, however, discoveries in Europe of lavish burials of ancient women showed that in some societies women could be of high status at the very least.
Read more: newscientist.com/article/2584364-dna-reveals-a-society-organised-around-women-in-pre-roman-britain
