Celtic society in England was female-focused 2,000 years ago, a genetic study of Iron Age skeletons reveals. DNA analysis of dozens of ancient burials uncovered a community whose lineage could be traced back to one woman, and showed that men joined the group upon marriage.
"This is the first time this type of system has been documented in European prehistory," study lead author Lara Cassidy, a human geneticist at Trinity College Dublin, said in a statement, "and it predicts female social and political empowerment. It's relatively rare in modern societies, but this might not always have been the case."
