Ancient British Tribe Headed by Women Unearthed Through Celtic Graves Discovery
Study Reveals Evidence of Matriarchal Society Among Durotriges Tribe in British Iron Age
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a matriarchal society among the Durotriges tribe during the British Iron Age, challenging conventional beliefs about the roles of women in pre-Roman British society. This finding comes from DNA genome analysis of burial sites, which suggest a social structure where women remained in their natal communities while men may have moved in from outside groups.
The research, published in Nature in 2025, involved collaboration between Bournemouth University and Trinity College Dublin. Researchers analyzed more than 50 samples and found an extended kin group of the Durotriges tribe centered around a single maternal lineage. Dr. Lara Cassidy, the study's lead and assistant professor of Trinity's Department of Genetics, explained in a press release, "We reconstructed a family tree with many different branches and found most members traced their maternal lineage back to a single woman, who would have lived centuries before. In contrast, relationships through the father's line were almost absent."
The findings indicate that husbands left their homes to join the communities of their wives after marriage, placing women at the center of economic and social power. This matrilocal pattern is the first documented system of its kind in European prehistory and lends credence to the writings of Greek and Roman authors about women's positions of power in British society during the late Iron Age.
Further DNA evidence shows that adult males at the site share closely related maternal lineages, reinforcing the idea that males were integrated into their wives' communities. This collective genetic data implies that the Durotriges may have had a female-centered social organization prior to the Roman invasion.
The genome analysis of the Durotriges burials provides a strong argument for a matriarchal or matrilocal societal structure in this Iron Age tribe, where women played a central role in the community's social and familial organization. This research highlights the importance of studying human DNA genetics in learning about human history.
The research findings suggest that the Durotriges tribe during the British Iron Age practiced a matrilocal society, where men joined their wives' communities after marriage, potentially placing women at the center of health-and-wellness and womens-health decisions, due to their central roles in the community's social and familial organization. The collective genetic data from DNA evidence further supports this assumption, offering insights into how this matriarchal society may have influenced health-and-wellness practices and womens-health within the Durotriges community.
