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One persistent notion claims that in certain earlier eras of human history, women had similar standing to men, or perhaps dominated, resulting in happier and more peaceful societies. Then, the patriarchy emerged, ushering in ages of strife and subjugation.

The Origins of the Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy Discussion

The idea of female-led societies and patriarchy as diametrically opposed—following a sudden switch between them—was seeded in the 19th century via socialist theory, entering anthropological studies despite limited proof. From there, it spread into popular awareness.

Social scientists, however, tended to be less convinced. They observed great variation in sex roles among cultures, including modern and past ones, and many theorized that such diversity was the standard in prehistory as well. Proving this was difficult, partly because determining physical sex—let alone gender—was often hard in old skeletons. Then around two decades back, everything shifted.

A Revolution in Ancient DNA

The so-called ancient DNA revolution—the capacity to recover DNA from ancient bones and study it—enabled that abruptly it became possible to determine the sex of ancient people and to examine their kinship ties. The chemical makeup of their skeletal remains—specifically, the proportion of elemental variants present there—indicated whether they had resided in different locations and experienced shifts in nutrition. The picture coming to light thanks to these advanced methods indicates that diversity in sex roles was very much the norm in ancient eras, and that there was not a definite watershed when one system gave way to its opposite.

Hypotheses on the Rise of Male-Dominant Systems

The Marxist idea, in fact credited to Marx’s collaborator, proposed that early societies were equal before farming spread from the Middle East about ten millennia back. Accompanying the more sedentary way of life and accumulation of resources that farming introduced came the need to defend that wealth and to establish laws for its succession. As communities grew, men monopolised the leading groups that formed to coordinate these matters, partly because they were better at fighting, and wealth gravitated to the paternal lineage. Men were additionally inclined to remain in place, with their wives relocating to join them. Women’s subordination was frequently a byproduct of these shifts.

An alternative view, proposed by researcher a Lithuanian scholar in the mid-20th century, was that woman-centred societies prevailed for an extended period in the continent—until five millennia back—when they were toppled by incoming, male-ruled nomads from the plains.

Findings of Matrilineal Societies

Female-line descent (where property is inherited through the female line) and matrilocality (where women remain in one place) often co-occur, and both are linked with greater female status and authority. In recent years, U.S. geneticists discovered that for over three centuries during the 900s AD, an elite mother-line group inhabited Chaco Canyon, in modern-day the southwestern U.S.. Then, this June, Asian experts reported a matrilineal farming community that flourished for nearly as long in China’s east, more than three millennia prior. These findings join previous evidence, suggesting that female-descended societies have existed on every inhabited continents, at least from the arrival of farming on.

Power and Autonomy in Ancient Societies

But, though they possess greater status, females in mother-line societies may not make decisions. That typically stays the domain of men—just of maternal uncles instead of their husbands. And because ancient DNA and isotopes can’t tell you a great deal about women’s autonomy, gender power relations in prehistory remain a matter of debate. Indeed, such research has prompted researchers to consider what they understand by authority. Suppose the wife of a king shaped his court via patronage and informal networks, and his decisions by advice, was she any less powerful than him?

Experts have identified several examples of couples ruling jointly in the bronze age—the period after those migrants arrived in Europe—and later written accounts attest to high-status women shaping decisions in such ways, continents apart. Perhaps they did so in earlier times. Females exerting soft power in male-dominated societies could have predated Homo sapiens. In his recent publication about sex and gender, a titled work, primatologist a noted scientist recounted how an alpha female chimp, Mama, chose a successor to the top male—who outranked her—with a kiss.

Elements Shaping Sex Roles

In recent years another aspect has become clear. Although Engels was likely broadly right in linking property with patrilinearity, other factors shaped sex roles, as well—such as how a community sustains itself. In February, Chinese and British researchers reported that historically female-line villages in Tibet have become less gender-biased over the past several decades, as they transitioned from an farming-based system to a trade-focused one. Conflict additionally plays its part. While female-resident and patrilocal societies are equally prone to conflict, says anthropologist a Yale expert, within-group disputes—rather than war against an outside group—prods societies towards male residence, because fighting groups prefer to keep their sons close.

Women as Warriors and Leaders

Meanwhile, proof is mounting that women fought, pursued game and served as shamans in the ancient world. No role or position has been barred to them in all times and places. And even if female decision-makers were perhaps uncommon, they haven’t been absent. Recent genetic analyses from an Irish university show that there were no fewer than pockets of female-line descent throughout the British Isles, when ancient groups controlled the land in the metal period. Combined with physical finds for female warriors and ancient descriptions of female tribal chiefs, it looks as if ancient European women could wield direct as well as indirect authority.

Modern Matrilineal Societies

Mother-line societies still exist today—a Chinese group are one case, as are the Hopi of Arizona, heirs of those ancient clans. Their numbers are dwindling, as state authorities assert their male-dominant muscles, but they serve as reminders that certain vanished societies tilted more towards gender equality than many of our modern ones, and that every culture have the capacity to evolve.