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One widespread notion suggests that in some bygone periods of human history, women enjoyed equal standing to men, or perhaps ruled, resulting in more harmonious and more peaceful societies. Subsequently, male-dominated systems arose, ushering in ages of strife and subjugation.

The Origins of the Gender System Debate

The concept of matriarchy and patriarchy as diametrically opposed—with a sudden transition between them—originated in the 1800s through socialist theory, entering anthropological studies with limited evidence. Thereafter, it permeated into public consciousness.

Social scientists, by contrast, were often less convinced. They observed great variation in gender relations across human societies, both modern and past ones, and many theorized that such diversity was the standard in prehistory as well. Proving this was challenging, in part because identifying biological sex—not to mention gender—frequently proved hard in ancient remains. But about 20 years ago, that shifted.

The Breakthrough in Ancient DNA

This so-called genomics era—the capacity to extract DNA from old remains and analyse it—meant that abruptly it became possible to identify the sex of long-dead individuals and to trace their family connections. The isotopic composition of their bones and teeth—specifically, the ratio of elemental variants present there—indicated whether they had resided in various places and experienced dietary changes. The picture coming to light thanks to these advanced methods shows that diversity in gender relations was absolutely the rule in ancient eras, and that there was not a clear turning point when one system yielded to its mirror image.

Theories on the Rise of Male-Dominant Systems

One influential theory, in fact credited to Engels, suggested that early societies were equal until agriculture spread from the Middle East approximately 10,000 years ago. Accompanying the more sedentary lifestyle and accumulation of wealth that agriculture brought arose the necessity to defend that property and to set rules for its succession. When populations grew, men took over the elites that developed to manage these matters, in part because they were more skilled at warfare, and assets passed to the paternal lineage. Men were additionally more likely to stay put, with their female mates moving to join them. Female oppression was frequently a consequence of these changes.

Another theory, proposed by archaeologist a Lithuanian scholar in the 1960s, was that woman-centred societies dominated for an extended period in the continent—up to five millennia back—after which they were overthrown by arriving, patriarchal migrants from the plains.

Evidence of Matrilineal Societies

Matrilinearity (where wealth passes down the female line) and matrilocality (where women remain in one place) frequently go together, and both are linked with greater women’s standing and influence. In recent years, U.S. scientists reported that for more than 300 years around the 900s AD, an high-status matrilineal group inhabited Chaco Canyon, in what is now New Mexico. Then, in a recent study, Chinese experts identified a female-line farming community that thrived for nearly as long in eastern China, more than 3,000 years earlier. Such discoveries join others, suggesting that matrilineal societies have been present on all populated landmasses, at least from the arrival of farming on.

Influence and Autonomy in Ancient Societies

However, even if they possess greater status, women in mother-line societies may not make decisions. That typically stays the preserve of men—specifically of maternal uncles rather than their spouses. And since ancient DNA and isotopes don’t reveal much about female agency, sex-based hierarchies in ancient times remain a matter of debate. Indeed, such research has prompted scholars to ask themselves what they understand by authority. Suppose the wife of a king influenced his court through patronage and informal networks, and his own policies by advice, did she hold less influence than him?

Archaeologists have identified multiple instances of pairs ruling jointly in the bronze age—the period following those migrants came in the continent—and later historical records attest to elite women shaping policies in similar manners, continents apart. Maybe they acted similarly in the distant past. Females exerting indirect influence in male-dominated societies may even have existed before Homo sapiens. In his recent publication about gender roles, Different, ape expert a noted scientist recounted how an dominant female chimp, Mama, chose a replacement to the alpha male—her superior—with a kiss.

Elements Shaping Sex Roles

Lately something else has become clear. Although Engels was likely generally right in associating property with male-line inheritance, other factors affected gender relations, too—including how a society makes a living. Recently, international researchers found that historically matrilineal villages in Tibet have grown more gender-neutral over the past several decades, as they transitioned from an farming-based system to a trade-focused one. Conflict also plays its part. Although female-resident and male-resident societies are just as warlike, says anthropologist Carol Ember, within-group disputes—as opposed to war against an outside group—prods societies towards patrilocality, because fighting groups choose to have their sons close.

Women as Hunters and Leaders

At the same time, evidence is mounting that women engaged in combat, hunted and served as spiritual leaders in the distant past. No role or role has been closed to them in all times and places. And even if female decision-makers were perhaps uncommon, they haven’t been nonexistent. New genetic analyses from Trinity College Dublin show that there were at least pockets of matrilinearity throughout Britain, when ancient groups dominated the island in the iron age. Alongside archaeological evidence for women fighters and ancient accounts of female tribal chiefs, it appears as if ancient European women could exercise direct as well as indirect power.

Contemporary Female-Line Societies

Mother-line societies still exist nowadays—a Chinese group are one case, as are the Hopi of the southwestern U.S., heirs of those ancient lineages. These communities are dwindling, as national governments assert their male-dominant muscles, but they serve as testaments that certain vanished societies tilted closer to gender equality than many of our modern ones, and that all societies have the potential to change.