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One widespread belief claims that in some bygone periods of human history, women had equal standing to men, or perhaps ruled, resulting in more harmonious and less violent societies. Then, male-dominated systems arose, bringing ages of conflict and subjugation.

The Roots of the Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy Discussion

This concept of female-led societies and patriarchy as polar opposites—following a sudden transition between them—was seeded in the 1800s via Marxist thought, entering archaeology despite little evidence. From there, it permeated into public consciousness.

Anthropologists, by contrast, tended to be less convinced. They observed great variation in gender relations across human societies, including modern and historical ones, and some theorized that such variety was the norm in prehistory as well. Confirming this proved challenging, partly because identifying physical sex—not to mention social gender—frequently proved hard in old skeletons. Then about 20 years ago, that changed.

The Revolution in Genetic Analysis

This much-touted ancient DNA revolution—the ability to recover DNA from old remains and study it—meant that suddenly it became possible to determine the sex of ancient people and to trace their kinship ties. The isotopic composition of their bones and teeth—specifically, the proportion of elemental variants found there—revealed whether they had lived in different places and experienced dietary changes. The picture emerging thanks to these new tools shows that diversity in gender relations had been absolutely the norm in ancient eras, and that there was no clear turning point when a particular model yielded to its opposite.

Theories on the Rise of Patriarchal Systems

The Marxist theory, in fact credited to Marx’s collaborator, proposed that humans were equal until farming expanded from the Middle East approximately ten millennia back. Accompanying the more sedentary lifestyle and building up of wealth that agriculture introduced arose the necessity to defend that wealth and to set laws for its inheritance. As communities grew, men monopolised the leading groups that developed to coordinate these matters, partly because they were more skilled at warfare, and wealth gravitated to the paternal lineage. Male kin were also inclined to stay put, with their wives moving to live with them. Female oppression was often a byproduct of these changes.

An alternative theory, put forward by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas in the 1960s, held that woman-centred societies dominated for longer in Europe—up to five millennia back—after which they were overthrown by incoming, male-ruled nomads from the steppe.

Evidence of Matrilineal Societies

Female-line descent (where wealth passes down the female line) and matrilocality (where female kin stay together) often co-occur, and each are linked with greater female status and authority. In recent years, American geneticists reported that for over three centuries during the 900s AD, an high-status matrilineal group inhabited Chaco Canyon, in modern-day New Mexico. Later, this June, Chinese experts reported a matrilineal farming community that flourished for a comparable duration in China’s east, over three millennia prior. These findings add to others, suggesting that matrilineal societies have existed on all populated landmasses, at least from the arrival of agriculture on.

Power and Autonomy in Ancient Societies

However, even if they possess higher status, women in mother-line societies don’t necessarily make decisions. That generally stays the preserve of men—just of women’s brothers instead of their spouses. And because ancient DNA and chemical traces don’t reveal a great deal about women’s autonomy, gender power relations in ancient times remain a subject of discussion. Indeed, this line of work has forced scholars to consider what they understand by power. If the wife of a male ruler shaped his court through support and informal networks, and his own policies by counselling, did she hold less influence than him?

Archaeologists know of several instances of couples ruling jointly in the metal age—the era after those nomads came in Europe—and later written accounts confirm to elite women influencing decisions in such ways, continents apart. Perhaps they did so in the distant past. Females wielding indirect influence in patriarchal societies may even have existed before Homo sapiens. In his recent publication about sex and gender, Different, ape expert a noted scientist recounted how an alpha female chimp, Mama, chose a successor to the alpha male—her superior—with a kiss.

Elements Shaping Sex Roles

In recent years another aspect has emerged. While the theorist was likely broadly right in associating property with patrilinearity, additional elements shaped sex roles, as well—such as how a community sustains itself. In February, Chinese and British scientists reported that historically female-line villages in Tibet have become more gender-neutral over the last 70 years, as they transitioned from an farming-based system to a trade-focused one. Conflict additionally has a role. While matrilocal and male-resident societies are equally prone to conflict, says researcher a Yale expert, within-group disputes—as opposed to battles against an outside group—prods societies towards male residence, because fighting groups choose to have their male offspring nearby.

Females as Warriors and Authorities

Meanwhile, proof is mounting that women fought, hunted and acted as shamans in the distant past. No role or role has been barred to them always, everywhere. And even if female decision-makers were perhaps rare, they haven’t been nonexistent. Recent genetic analyses from an Irish university show that there were no fewer than pockets of matrilinearity throughout the British Isles, when ancient groups dominated the land in the metal period. Alongside archaeological evidence for women fighters and ancient accounts of female tribal chiefs, it appears as if ancient European women could exercise hard as well as indirect power.

Contemporary Female-Line Societies

Matrilineal societies still exist nowadays—the Mosuo of China are one case, as are the Hopi of the southwestern U.S., heirs of those Chaco Canyon lineages. Their numbers are dwindling, as state authorities flex their patriarchal influence, but they act as testaments that some extinct societies tilted closer to gender equality than many of our present-day ones, and that every culture have the potential to change.