An international team of researchers published a study in the journal Nature, revealing evidence of a matrilineal society in prehistoric China, according to China Daily. The study analyzed ancient DNA from skeletons buried in Stone Age cemeteries at the Fujia archaeological site in northeastern Shandong province, uncovering that women led communities in East China about 4,500 years ago, as reported by Nature.
The Fujia site, identified as a late settlement of the Neolithic Dawenkou culture, spans approximately 37 hectares. Excavations uncovered the remains of more than 500 individuals in tightly clustered graves organized into two cemeteries about 100 meters apart, surrounding an ancient residential area. Researchers discovered that people were buried in their maternal clans for at least ten generations.
The research team analyzed the DNA of 60 skeletons from the site, including 14 from the northern cemetery and 46 from the southern cemetery. All 14 individuals from the northern cemetery possessed the same maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and exhibited identical mitochondrial DNA sequences, indicating a shared maternal lineage. "By integrating mtDNA and Y-chromosome analyses, we provide evidence that most individuals at Fujia, irrespective of their sex, were buried according to their maternal lineage," the researchers wrote in the study, according to Nature.
Similarly, 44 of the 46 individuals from the southern cemetery shared another mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and identical mitochondrial DNA sequences, suggesting a separate maternal lineage. The genetic evidence included high Y-chromosome diversity but uniform mitochondrial DNA at each cemetery. This pattern suggests that while mothers were related, the fathers came from different lineages—a characteristic trait of matrilineal societies.
Skeletal age estimations revealed that male teenagers and adults were exclusively buried in their maternal clans. "This practice aligns with the common norms of a matrilineal society," said Ning Chao, a researcher at Peking University, according to China Daily. The community's subsistence was primarily based on millet cultivation, occasionally complemented with marine foods due to its proximity to the Yellow River delta.
The Fujia site displayed less wealth, low levels of social differentiation, and low population density compared with other contemporaneous sites of the Dawenkou culture. The funerary record showed little difference in the wealth of grave goods, with all tombs containing simple ceramic utensils and lithic tools, without indications of social stratification or accumulation of economic power. These findings indicate a relatively egalitarian and community-focused environment.
The researchers noted that the Fujia site reveals a unique social organization characterized by two maternal clans linked by marriage, suggesting that governance and social cohesion may have rested on women nearly five millennia ago. "It is exciting to find a matrilineal society in Neolithic China," said Yu Dong, an archaeologist at Shandong University who was not involved in the study, according to Live Science.
Until this discovery, clear evidence of matrilineal organization in prehistoric societies was limited. Previous studies of ancient DNA have indicated that most societies during the Neolithic period (around 4300 BCE to 2000 BCE) and Bronze Age (about 2000 BCE to 700 BCE) had patrilocal and patrilineal social structures. The findings at Fujia challenge this notion and provide key empirical evidence supporting theories of early maternal inheritance proposed by scholars like Johann Jakob Bachofen and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century.
Sun Bo, director of the Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said, "This discovery offered direct evidence to their theories about matrilineal society and significantly contributed to the studies of the origins of human civilization," according to China Daily. Near the Fujia site are numerous Dawenkou cultural sites displaying features similar to those of Fujia, suggesting that matrilineal social organization was possibly common at that time in what is now the northern part of Shandong.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.