Researchers have uncovered genetic evidence suggesting that ancient Celtic societies in Iron Age Britain were matrilineal and matrilocal, with women holding status and influence.

Iron Age Britain may have been more feminist than many people believe, a study has found. Queens during this time, such as Boudica and Cartimandua, are famed for their leadership, political nous and violence. However, it was previously thought these female leaders were rare exceptions.

Julius Caesar, in his account of the Gallic Wars written more than more than century earlier, also described Celtic women participating in public affairs, exercising political influence — and having more than one husband.

The Iron Age burials of powerful women revealed land and leadership may have been passed down through a mother’s line, new research says. Bournemouth University When the Romans reached Britain in the first century,

Some scholars have suggested that the Romans exaggerated the liberties of women on the British Isles to imply that this was a more uncivilized society. However, this genetic and skeletal evidence implies that women were likely influential and could have been shaping group identity through matrilineal lines.

A groundbreaking study finds evidence that land was inherited through the female line in Iron Age Britain, with husbands moving to live with their wife's community. This is believed to be the first time such a system has been documented in European prehistory.

Ancient DNA analysis has revealed that an Iron Age community in Dorset, England, was centered around bonds of female-line descent.

A study that has revealed an Iron Age society centred on women was led by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin.

A new study has revealed that women inherited land in Iron Age Britain and husbands moved to live with their wife’s community. A team of geneticists made the discovery by analysing the DNA from a set of burial grounds in Dorset which date back to the Roman conquest of AD43.

Land was inherited through the female line in Iron Age Britain, with husbands moving to live with their wife’s community

Iron Age cemeteries with well-preserved burials ... Two of the earliest recorded rulers were queens – Boudica and Cartimandua – who commanded armies. “It’s been suggested that the Romans ...

“This is what we see in modern matrilocal societies and it is quite possible a similar set of dynamics were at play in Iron Age Britain. This would make it easier for individuals like Boudica or ...