Celtic Women Ruled Iron Age Britain, 2,000-Year-Old DNA Reveals

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People of high status - including women - were reportedly in top positions in prehistoric Britain, according to descriptions by Julius Caesar and others who lived in this new and unexplored land. While many historians today question the accuracy of these ancient Roman accounts, which may have been exaggerated, a recent study of 2,000-year-old DNA reveals that women were indeed prominent in prehistoric Britain.

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A trait that is passed down from one generation to the next from a father to his son.

These two parts of the genome can be used to research a person's family history on their mother's side and father's side, and it was discovered that more than two-thirds of those buried in Winterborne Kingston are descendants of a single, previously undiscovered maternal lineage.

"On the other hand, relationships through the father's line were very rare," as shown by the high levels of Y-chromosome differences among the men buried there. This implies that most of these men did not have children in the community, but the women buried in the cemetery were likely from the local area.

Cassidy indicates that men often moved to live in their wives' communities after marriage, with land sometimes being inherited through the female line. This is referred to as matrilocality, which stands in contrast to the previously believed common practice of patrilocality in prehistory.

“This is the first recorded example in European prehistory of a system like this, and it suggests female social and political influence was likely stronger than previously thought,” adds Cassidy. “Although it's uncommon in contemporary societies, it's possible that social dynamics may have been different in the past.”

The researchers wanted to know how common matrilocal societies were in ancient times. To do this, they studied the DNA from 156 graveyards across Europe, located from the time period known as the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Interestingly, they discovered signs of matrilocality in six different locations, all in ancient England during the Iron Age.

In Britain, we found cemeteries where most people were descended from a small group of female ancestors," said study author Professor Dan Bradley. "In parts of Yorkshire, for example, one dominant line of female ancestors had taken hold by around 400 years before the start of the common era. We were surprised to find that this pattern was widespread and went deep into the island's history.

and Cartimandua, both of whom delivered a significant blow to the Romans in the first century CE.

“It's been claimed that the Romans overstated the freedom of British women in order to create a picture of a rough-around-the-edges society,” says excavation director Dr. Miles Russell. “However, archaeology and genetics indicate that women played significant roles in various aspects of Iron Age life.”

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