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Judi Lynn

(162,899 posts)
Fri Jan 17, 2025, 09:50 PM Jan 17

Scientists Discover Celtic Society Where Men Left Home to Join Their Bride's Community

DNA extracted from 57 individuals buried in a 2,000-year-old cemetery provides evidence of a “matrilocal” community in Iron Age Britain, a new study suggests

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent
January 16, 2025

In 2008, archaeologists discovered a large cemetery in southwest England. Located near the village of Winterborne Kingston in Dorset, the burial ground contained human remains dating back to Britain’s Iron Age, which lasted from around 800 B.C.E. to 43 C.E. The bodies belonged to a Celtic tribe known as the Durotriges.

Since intact remains from this period are rare, the researchers were happy to have discovered the cemetery in the first place. But when they began to sequence DNA from dozens of bodies buried at the site, they were in for an even bigger surprise.

In 2008, archaeologists discovered a large cemetery in southwest England. Located near the village of Winterborne Kingston in Dorset, the burial ground contained human remains dating back to Britain’s Iron Age, which lasted from around 800 B.C.E. to 43 C.E. The bodies belonged to a Celtic tribe known as the Durotriges.

Since intact remains from this period are rare, the researchers were happy to have discovered the cemetery in the first place. But when they began to sequence DNA from dozens of bodies buried at the site, they were in for an even bigger surprise.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-discover-celtic-society-where-men-left-home-to-join-their-brides-community-180985857/

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Scientists Discover Celtic Society Where Men Left Home to Join Their Bride's Community (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jan 17 OP
Interesting. The published study in Nature is here: highplainsdem Jan 18 #1

highplainsdem

(53,912 posts)
1. Interesting. The published study in Nature is here:
Sat Jan 18, 2025, 01:58 PM
Jan 18
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08409-6

Both matrilocality and matriliny are predicted by cultural factors that increase female involvement in subsistence labour and decrease paternity certainty28,29,44,45,46. External warfare can encourage both of these through male absence and has long been theorized to induce transitions to matrilocality through various mechanisms45,47,48, a hypothesis recently strengthened through quantitative modelling49. Matrilocality also predicts a history of migration into a new territory, which often is accompanied by frontier warfare4,45. The British Iron Age was debatably a time of high societal violence, indicated by the early proliferation of hillforts, weapons, human remains displaying violence-related injuries and instances of intergroup conflict recorded by Roman writers such as Julius Caesar and Tacitus50,51,52,53. Importantly, although matrilocality does not necessitate female political and social empowerment, it is strongly associated with these4,27,54,55,56 and resonates with Roman descriptions of Celtic women1. Although classical depictions of conquered peoples are often viewed with scepticism, we find here some truths in these writers’ appraisal of Iron Age Britain.



The Smithsonian article also points out that ancient Romans who invaded Britain had written about "British women with high levels of power and multiple husbands" but scholars weren't sure if those descriptions were based on fact, or were anti-British propaganda to make Celtic women seem abnormal - wild compared to Roman women.
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