Peking University announced that its School of Archeology and Museology collaborated with the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to confirm the existence of prehistoric matriarchal society.The research team published their results in the international academic journal Nature, which for the first time used molecular genetic evidence to confirm the existence of a social form composed of two matrilineal clans at the Fujia site in Guangrao, Shandong 4,750 years ago.
The Fu Family Site is located in Shandong Province. It is a site of the middle and late Dawenkou Culture, with a total area of 370,000 square meters. It was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 2006. After three archaeological excavations, two independent tomb groups in the north and south were discovered.
Ancient DNA technology opens up new paths for research on prehistoric society, the previous genetic clues about matrilineal society can only be traced back to the European Iron Age. The Peking University research team used ancient DNA multi-omics technology to accurately interpret the genetic structure of the Fu family population.
From the perspective of genetic mechanism, human DNA contains mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA, and its genetic characteristics can be used as criteria for judging social forms.All individuals in the northern cemetery of the Fu family site share the same mitochondrial haplotype, as do 95.65% of individuals in the southern cemetery. Moreover, the Y chromosome haplotypes are diversely distributed and do not have paternal inheritance characteristics.
In addition, the secondary burial of individuals also confirmed the matrilineal burial rules and identity. Bayesian modeling showed that the cemetery was used for about 250 years and the matrilineal lineage continued for at least 10 generations.
Ancient DNA, isotope detection and other technologies have also restored the appearance of matrilineal society.The Fu family group should have a matrilineal exogamy system. The ancestors of the northern and southern districts have coexisted in intermarriage for a long time, and there is male mobility.
Modern anthropological observations have found that matriarchal societies often present a social form with limited inheritable resources and low accumulation of personal property. This is also confirmed by the Fu family ruins.
Peking University stated that this multidisciplinary cooperation formed a complete chain of evidence to prove the existence of the Fu family's matrilineal clan, and was a successful practice of cross-department and cross-disciplinary cooperation.