In a quiet corner of eastern China, nestled between the Tai-Yi Mountains and the Bohai Sea, a discovery has upended long-standing assumptions about ancient societies. At the Neolithic site of Fujia, researchers have found compelling evidence of a matrilineal community — one of the first ever confirmed in ancient China.
For decades, the dominant narrative in archaeology and genetics has been that early societies were patriarchal. But modern research is showing that at least in some places, this wasn’t always the case.
The new study uncovered a 250-year lineage organized by maternal descent, maintained for ten generations.
“Our results indicate that the Fujia community was probably organized around matrilineal principles. This interpretation is supported by the strong correspondence between genetic features and cemetery boundaries,” the researchers write in the study.
Two cemeteries, two clans, one social order
The Fujia site, located in Shandong province, dates from 2750 to 2500 BCE, spanning 37 hectares and including over 500 graves. Excavated across several decades, it was long assumed to be part of the broader Dawenkou culture, a prehistoric agricultural society known for its millet farming and painted pottery.
The Dawenkou culture thrived from 4100 BC to 2600 BC, in different phases. During the later phase, which also covers the Fujia site, the culture started developing and accumulating more objects. Their society became increasingly stratified and researchers suspect they also raided and stole from time to time.
But what set Fujia apart wasn’t found in its artifacts. It was hidden in the DNA of the dead.
Researchers from Peking University, Minzu University, and other institutions analyzed ancient DNA from 60 individuals buried in two distinct cemeteries at the site, one in the north side and the other in the south side. The researchers focused on mitochondrial DNA (or mtDNA), which is a special kind of DNA passed down from mothers to their children. Because it only comes from mothers, it’s useful for tracing maternal ancestry.
What they found was striking: all 14 people buried in the northern cemetery had exactly the same type of mtDNA, known as haplogroup M8a3. This means they all shared a common maternal ancestor — likely from the same maternal family line — and suggests the cemetery was used by one large extended maternal clan. Meanwhile, 44 of 46 individuals in Fujia_S had a different mtDNA haplogroup. Since mtDNA is passed exclusively from mothers to their children, this suggested that each cemetery was dedicated to a different maternal clan.
In short: everyone buried in that part of the site came from the same maternal lineage, pointing to a society organized around mothers rather than fathers.
Is this conclusive?
The stark contrast in maternal lineages between the two cemeteries stood in opposition to the rich diversity found in the Y chromosomes, which are passed through fathers. Male individuals buried in the same cemetery had widely varying Y-DNA, indicating that men married into the community from outside. Yet regardless of the father’s origin, everyone was buried according to their maternal lineage.
“Most individuals at Fujia, irrespective of their sex, were buried according to their maternal lineages,” the researchers conclude.
This organization, the researchers argue, is hallmarked evidence of a matrilineal system. It wasn’t just a few isolated family plots — it was an enduring social structure rooted in maternal descent. But the study didn’t stop at this evidence.
The researchers also used powerful tools to map out deeper kinship — reconstructing family trees up to the sixth degree using identity-by-descent (IBD) segments, a kind of genetic fingerprint that reveals distant relatives. This confirmed that the tribe’s structure focused on females and people were buried in their maternal clans for at least 10 generations.
What else do we know about this population?
The people of Fujia weren’t just socially unique — they were genetically tight-knit. The team found signs pointing to generations of intermarriage within the same community. While this can sometimes indicate cousin marriage, in Fujia’s case it was more likely the result of endogamy — a closed population with limited outside contact. The estimated population size was just 200–400 individuals.
Despite living in a relatively rich region with other Neolithic communities nearby, the Fujia people rarely strayed. Strontium isotope analysis, which tracks the local geology embedded in teeth, showed that almost all individuals grew up within a 10-kilometer radius. Oxygen isotope levels confirmed they drank from the same water sources. These people stayed close to home — and to each other.
Their diet, too, was consistent. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes showed a reliance on crops like foxtail millet, and animal protein likely from pigs fed the same grains. There were no significant differences between male and female diets, suggesting a society with relative gender parity — at least at the dinner table.
Rethinking history
For centuries, archaeologists and thinkers wondered whether early human societies were matrilineal. Without hard evidence, the idea remained largely speculative, dismissed by many as myth.
Now, the Fujia community provides one of the clearest genetic records of matrilineal descent in the archaeological record. Until now, only a few examples were confirmed: the elite dynasty of Chaco Canyon in North America, dating between 800 and 1300, the Celtic elites in southern Germany, and the Durotriges in Iron Age Britain. Fujia predates them by more than a thousand years. Other examples exist, but they’re not as conclusive.
The implications are profound. The people of Fujia challenge the prevailing idea that early societies naturally evolved toward patriarchy. Instead, they suggest that kinship systems were more diverse, more flexible — and more matrilineal — than once believed. Whether such systems were widespread or were exceptions remains to be seen.
