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One persistent belief suggests that in some bygone eras of human existence, women had similar status to men, or even dominated, leading to happier and less violent societies. Then, male-dominated systems arose, bringing centuries of strife and oppression.

The Origins of the Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy Debate

The idea of matriarchy and male-led societies as diametrically opposed—with a decisive switch between them—was seeded in the 19th century through Marxist thought, influencing archaeology with little evidence. Thereafter, it permeated into popular awareness.

Social scientists, however, tended to be less convinced. They documented significant diversity in gender relations among human societies, including contemporary and past ones, and some theorized that this variety was the standard in prehistory as well. Proving this proved difficult, partly because identifying physical sex—let alone social gender—was often tricky in ancient remains. But about 20 years ago, that changed.

A Breakthrough in Genetic Analysis

This much-touted genomics era—the capacity to recover DNA from old remains and study it—enabled that suddenly it was feasible to determine the sex of long-dead individuals and to trace their family connections. The chemical makeup of their bones and teeth—specifically, the proportion of elemental variants found there—indicated whether they had resided in different locations and undergone dietary changes. The picture coming to light due to these advanced methods indicates that diversity in sex roles had been very much the norm in ancient eras, and that there was no definite watershed when one system gave way to its mirror image.

Hypotheses on the Rise of Male-Dominant Systems

The Marxist theory, actually credited to Marx’s collaborator, proposed that humans were egalitarian before farming spread from the Middle East approximately ten millennia back. With the settled way of life and building up of resources that farming brought came the necessity to defend that wealth and to establish laws for its succession. When populations grew, men monopolised the elites that formed to coordinate these affairs, in part because they were more skilled at fighting, and assets passed to the paternal lineage. Men were also inclined to stay put, with their wives moving to live with them. Women’s subordination was frequently a consequence of these changes.

Another view, proposed by researcher Marija Gimbutas in the 1960s, was that woman-centred societies prevailed for an extended period in Europe—up to five millennia back—when they were overthrown by arriving, patriarchal nomads from the plains.

Evidence of Female-Line Societies

Matrilinearity (where property passes down the female line) and matrilocality (where women remain in one place) frequently go together, and both are associated with higher female status and influence. In recent years, U.S. geneticists discovered that for more than three centuries during the 10th century, an elite mother-line group inhabited Chaco Canyon, in modern-day New Mexico. Later, in a recent study, Chinese experts identified a female-line farming community that flourished for a comparable duration in China’s east, over 3,000 years earlier. Such discoveries join previous evidence, suggesting that matrilineal societies have been present on every inhabited continents, at least from the advent of farming on.

Influence and Autonomy in Prehistoric Societies

But, though they enjoy higher status, women in mother-line societies may not make decisions. This generally remains the preserve of men—specifically of maternal uncles rather than their spouses. And because ancient DNA and chemical traces can’t tell you a great deal about female agency, gender power relations in ancient times continue to be a matter of discussion. Indeed, this line of work has prompted researchers to ask themselves what they understand by power. If the female consort of a male ruler shaped his court through support and back channels, and his own policies by advice, did she hold less influence than him?

Experts have identified multiple instances of couples ruling jointly in the metal age—the era following those migrants arrived in Europe—and subsequent written accounts confirm to elite women shaping policies in such ways, continents apart. Maybe they acted similarly in the distant past. Females wielding soft power in male-dominated societies could have existed before Homo sapiens. In his 2022 book about gender roles, a titled work, ape expert a noted scientist recounted how an dominant female chimp, a named individual, chose a successor to the top male—her superior—with a kiss.

Factors Shaping Gender Relations

Lately another aspect has become clear. While Engels may have been generally right in associating wealth with patrilinearity, additional elements affected sex roles, too—such as how a community sustains itself. Recently, international scientists found that historically female-line villages in a highland region have become less gender-biased over the past several decades, as they transitioned from an agricultural economy to a trade-focused one. Conflict also has a role. Although matrilocal and male-resident societies are equally prone to conflict, says researcher a Yale expert, internal strife—as opposed to battles against an outside group—pushes societies towards male residence, because fighting groups prefer to keep their sons close.

Females as Warriors and Authorities

At the same time, evidence is mounting that women engaged in combat, hunted and served as spiritual leaders in the distant past. Not a single position or position has been closed to them always, everywhere. And though female decision-makers may have been uncommon, they were not nonexistent. Recent ancient DNA findings from an Irish university show that there were no fewer than instances of matrilinearity throughout the British Isles, when ancient groups dominated the island in the iron age. Alongside archaeological evidence for female warriors and Roman descriptions of female tribal chiefs, it looks as if Celtic women could wield direct as well as indirect power.

Modern Female-Line Societies

Matrilineal societies still exist today—the Mosuo of China are one case, as are the a Native American tribe of the southwestern U.S., heirs of those ancient clans. These communities are dwindling, as state authorities assert their male-dominant muscles, but they act as reminders that some vanished societies leaned more towards gender equality than many of our present-day ones, and that every culture have the potential to evolve.