In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers have uncovered evidence of a society dating back over 4,500 years in eastern China, organized by maternal lineage. According to the study, published in Nature, the Neolithic settlement of Fujia, on the Shandong coast, had a matrilineal community more than 4,500 years ago.
Studies of ancient DNA have long pointed to patrilineal systems in early societies, at least in Eurasia during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The relocation of women to their husbands’ communities after marriage has often been reflected in genetic patterns in European and Asian burial sites. But new research based on studies by researchers from Peking University and the Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology calls such assumptions into question.
Excavations at Fujia, a site associated with the late Dawenkou culture and dating between 2750 and 2500 BCE, revealed more than 500 burials divided into two separate cemeteries—one to the north and one to the south. By analyzing genome-wide ancient DNA from the remains of 60 individuals, the team discovered that burial practices were closely tied to maternal lineage. All 14 individuals in the northern cemetery carried the same maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, M8a3, while 44 of 46 individuals from the southern cemetery shared a different haplogroup, D5b1b.
According to the researchers, this strongly indicates that the people in each cemetery descended from a common maternal ancestor. The fact that mitochondrial DNA is purely inherited from mother to child means that the genetic uniformity seen in each cemetery provides clear evidence of matrilineal organization.
Radiocarbon dating indicates the cemetery was in use for around 250 years, or at least 10 generations. Men and women were buried according to their birth clan, not with spouses or paternal kin—a funerary behavior that has rarely been observed in the archaeological record.
Further analysis of isotopic data revealed that the community subsisted largely on foxtail and broomcorn millet, along with millet-fed pigs and likely some aquatic resources. Strontium isotope ratios indicated that the population was relatively immobile, supporting the picture of a socially cohesive, geographically stable community practicing high levels of endogamy.
The Fujia site now stands alongside Chaco Canyon in North America as one of only a few confirmed instances of a matrilineal society uncovered through genetics.
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