Ancient China was home to earliest known matrilineal society, Neolithic burials reveal
Neolithic society in eastern China tracing descent through female line lasted 250 years and at least 10 generations, Chinese-led team finds
Sometime around 4,500 years ago, a matrilineal community lived in what is now Shandong in eastern China. They farmed millet near the coast, raised animals and possibly engaged in fishing.
This was the world’s earliest known matrilineal society and it lasted 250 years, maintaining a stable lineage through at least 10 generations, a Chinese-led team has discovered.
“These findings lend support to the hypothesis that early matrilineal systems could emerge and persist in communities without strong mechanisms for wealth accumulation,” the team wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on Wednesday.
Scientists from Chinese institutions including Peking University, Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Minzu University of China and Sichuan University took part in the research, alongside peers from University College London.
They set out to explore what they called “a key but debated question” of whether early human societies were organised by paternal or maternal descent.