A genetic study has, for the first time, unraveled a matrilocal social system in Iron Age Britain, where land and connectedness with the community were passed down through a female lineage. This is a first for European prehistory and underlines the importance of women in social and political spheres.
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and Bournemouth University collaborated to analyze DNA from 57 individuals buried at a site near Winterbourne Kingston, Dorset, known as ‘Duropolis.” This burial ground, in use both before and after the Roman Conquest of CE 43, provided a rare view of the lives of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe.
In the study, just published in Nature, the archaeogeneticists reconstructed a family tree centered around maternal lines. Dr. Lara Cassidy, an assistant professor in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, is the lead researcher on the project. “This was the cemetery of a large kin group,” Cassidy said. “Most members could be traced back to the same mother, who lived many centuries before, whereas relationships through the father’s line were almost absent.”
This matrilocal pattern, with husbands moving into their wives’ communities, suggests that land and identity were likely passed down through women. “It predicts female social and political empowerment,” Dr. Cassidy said.
Well-preserved Iron Age graves are scarce in Britain, but Dorset’s unusual customs are an exceptional case. Excavations at Duropolis, which started in 2009 and are led by Dr. Miles Russell from Bournemouth University, had already revealed richly furnished burials, most of them women’s.
“Beyond archaeology, knowledge of Iron Age Britain has come primarily from Greek and Roman writers, but they are not always considered the most trustworthy. That said, their commentary on British women is remarkable in light of these findings. When the Romans arrived, they were astonished to find women occupying positions of power. Two of the earliest recorded rulers were queens – Boudica and Cartimandua – who commanded armies,” Dr. Russell added.
Anthropologist Dr. Martin Smith from Bournemouth University said: “These results give us a whole new way of looking at the burials we are uncovering with our students. Rather than simply seeing a set of skeletons, hidden aspects of these people’s lives and identities come into view as mothers, husbands, daughters, and so on. We also see these folk had a deep knowledge of their own ancestry – multiple marriages between distant branches of this family occurred and were possibly favored, but close inbreeding was avoided.”
The study’s findings were not limited to Dorset. By analyzing data from more than 150 archaeological sites across Britain, the team also found similar matrilocality in other parts of the country, including Yorkshire. Dan Bradley, Professor of Population Genetics in Trinity’s Department of Genetics said: “Across Britain, we saw cemeteries where most individuals were maternally descended from a small set of female ancestors. In Yorkshire, for example, one dominant matriline was established before 400 BCE. To our surprise, this was a widespread phenomenon with deep roots on the island.”
The findings align with classical accounts of Celtic women’s liberties, including property rights and multiple marital options.
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