New Delhi: DNA of more than 500 people buried in north-east England centuries before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 has been sequenced, revealing an Iron Age society in which women were at the centre of family and community life.
The study, led by Ian Armit of the University of York and colleagues, examined around 500 individuals associated with the Arras culture, known for its distinctive chariot burials. Nearly 400 of the remains came from Wetwang Slack in East Yorkshire, the largest known Iron Age burial ground in Britain, which was active mainly between the fourth and second centuries BC.
The genetic evidence points to a strongly matrilocal society — one in which women remained with their families while men moved between communities.
A new Iron Age outlook
Most women buried at Wetwang Slack had close relatives buried at the same site, such as their mothers. The same pattern was much less common among men. In some cases, the researchers found direct evidence that men who originated in one community fathered children in another, suggesting that they moved while women remained in their ancestral homes. This is called ‘matrilocality,’ but it does not prove that women ruled these communities. But the researchers say it is generally associated with higher status and better conditions for women because the person who remains within their own family network is less dependent on their partner’s relatives.
Other evidence strengthens the picture of women having significant social power.
Rachel Pope, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool who was not involved in the study, called the findings “revolutionary” and said they could “totally change the way we think about the Iron Age”.
At least 12 women in the Arras population had children with more than one man. The researchers say this could have resulted from successive relationships, but it may also indicate “polyandrous reproductive arrangements within a strongly female-line-centred social structure” — meaning some women may have had multiple husbands at the same time.
The genetic data also reveal an unusual pattern of marriage between maternal clans. People from the same maternal lineage generally avoided having children with one another, despite living in relatively small communities where many individuals would have been related.
The researchers say this avoidance “demonstrates detailed knowledge of maternal-line affiliation across many generations and possibly hundreds of years”.
There were, however, exceptions. Three people buried with chariots — two men and one woman — showed evidence of repeated unions between close relatives. The researchers say this was “consistent with a reproductive strategy in which high status, identity and claims to particular forms of burial were concentrated within a restricted descent group”.
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The study’s authors conclude that female-line descent was fundamental to Arras society.
“Female-line descent was not an incidental feature of Arras culture communities, but a central organising principle,” they write, adding that this may have been the case across Iron Age Britain more broadly.
The findings add to growing evidence challenging the traditional assumption that ancient societies were naturally organised around men. Previous research in south-west England has also found evidence that women remained in ancestral communities while men moved elsewhere.
Pope said archaeological evidence supports “a more equitable Iron Age than scholars had previously imagined”, adding that “some powerful women were certainly part of that”. Evidence of bone injuries also suggests that some women fought against Rome.