Iron Age British society focused on WOMEN, pioneering research claims

By William On Jan 15, 2025

The Spice Girls are being forced to step aside as a new study has revealed that girl power may have started 2,400 years ago.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin say Iron Age British society focused on women.

According to the experts, women inherited land and had their husbands move to live with them.

These Iron Age settlements, which include sites in Cornwall, Dorset and Yorkshire, are among just eight percent of known pre-industrial societies where women controlled the land and their husbands had to leave their own families to live with them, experts believe.

Women probably took over because men in the violent Iron Age, as we know it from hillforts and weapons depots, were often away and engaged in warfare.

However, researchers caution that this is not known with certainty and is only a reasonable assumption based on DNA analysis.

A team of geneticists from Trinity College Dublin, working with archaeologists from Bournemouth University, looked at evidence from 157 archaeological sites that were in use before and after the Roman invasion of 43 AD.

This included their own in-depth analysis of DNA from 55 prehistoric people whose remains were located in cemeteries in Winterborne Kingston, Dorset.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin say Iron Age British society focused on women. Pictured: Durotrigian burial of a young woman from Langton Herring, sampled for DNA. She was buried with a mirror (right) and jewelry, including a Roman coin amulet depicting a female charioteer representing victory.

A team of geneticists examined evidence from 157 archaeological sites in use before and after the Roman invasion of 43 AD. This included their own in-depth analysis of DNA from 55 prehistoric people whose remains were located in cemeteries in Winterborne Kingston, Dorset.

The Dorset remains, which included 40 Iron Age people, revealed six males who did not fit the family tree and eight who did not belong to the female line of the family tree.

This suggests that they came to live from outside the community, with the women remaining where they were born.

In most communities where this is the case, women have relatively higher status and land is passed down through the female line.

Dr. Lara Cassidy, lead author of the study from Trinity, said: ‘Today most couples leave their families completely and live elsewhere, but traditionally women have tended to live with their husbands.

“This finding that husbands moved to their wives’ communities after marriage is rare.

‘It suggests female empowerment and influence, which may not fit with how some people have imagined the Iron Age.

‘This stems from our reconstruction of a family tree in which most members traced their maternal lineage back to a single woman who would have lived centuries earlier.’

The Iron Age people analyzed in the study lived around the time of warrior queen Boudicca, who famously led a rebellion against the Roman invasion, destroying three Roman cities.

The Dorset remains, which included 40 Iron Age people, revealed six males who did not fit the family tree and eight who did not belong to the female line of the family tree. Pictured: Excavation of a Late Iron Age Durotriges burial at Winterborne Kingston

They lived in agricultural settlements, where it is more common for women to stay put and control the land while men move into the area.

In these types of communities, where children inherit land through their mother’s families and not their father’s, it is generally less important for men to ensure that their wives are faithful, as they will not pass land to illegitimate children through mistake .

This could be evidence for Julius Caesar’s claims that women in Iron Age Britain had multiple husbands, the researchers tentatively suggest.

But they warn that this may have been Caesar telling a colorful story to show the Romans that their women were more loyal and faithful than those in Britain.

The study, published in the journal Nature, discusses ‘matrilocal’ societies, where men move into women’s families when they marry.

The evidence from the 157 archaeological sites suggests that this type of community existed at six English Iron Age sites: Worlebury in Somerset, Bottle Snap in Dorset, Gravelly Guy in Oxfordshire, Trethellan Farm and Tregunnel in Cornwall, and Pocklington in Yorkshire.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT IRON AGE BRITAIN?

The Iron Age in Britain began as the Bronze Age ended.

It started around 800 BC and ended in 43 AD when the Romans invaded.

As the name suggests, this period saw large-scale changes due to the introduction of ironworking technology.

During this period the population of Britain was probably over a million.

This was made possible by new forms of agriculture, such as the introduction of new barley and wheat varieties.

The invention of the iron-tipped plow made growing crops on heavy clay soils possible for the first time.

Some of the most important developments during the period were the introduction of the potter’s wheel, the lathe (used for woodworking), and the rotary mill for grinding grain.

There are almost 3,000 Iron Age hillforts in Britain. Some were used as permanent settlements, others were used as places for gatherings, trade and religious activities.

At that time, most people lived in small farms with extended families.

The standard house was a roundhouse, made of wood or stone with a thatched or turf roof.

Burial practices were varied, but it appears that most people were disposed of by ‘excarnation’, meaning they were deliberately exposed.

Some swamp bodies from this period have also been preserved, showing signs of violent deaths in the form of ritual and sacrificial killings.

Towards the end of this period there was increasing Roman influence from the western Mediterranean and southern France.

It appears that they were born before the Roman conquest of England in 43 AD. had already built up ties with many tribes and had been able to exercise a certain degree of political influence.

After 43 AD All of Wales and England became part of the Roman Empire under Hadrian’s Wall, while Iron Age life continued longer in Scotland and Ireland.