Was prehistory a feminist paradise?

"There is a stubborn and widely held idea that in some earlier phase of our species' existence, women had equal status to men, or even ruled, and societies were happier and more peaceful for it. Then along came the patriarchy, and much bloodshed and oppression later, here we all are. This notion of matriarchy and patriarchy as polar opposites with a switch having been thrown between them was seeded in the 19th century by Marxist theory, taking root in archaeology without much evidence."

"From there it spread to public consciousness. Anthropologists tended to be more sceptical. They saw plenty of diversity in gender relations across human societies, both modern and historical, and some of them suspected that diversity was the rule in prehistory, too. It was difficult to prove, though, in part because biological sex let alone gender was often hard to determine in ancient remains."

"Then about 20 years ago, that changed. The so-called ancient DNA revolution the ability to extract DNA from ancient bones and analyse it meant that suddenly it was possible to determine the sex of long-dead people, and to ask how they were related to each other. The chemical makeup of their bones and teeth specifically, the ratio of isotopes or variants of certain elements found there revealed if they had lived in different places and undergone dietary changes as a result."

A persistent idea posits that early human societies were matriarchal and peaceful until a violent shift produced patriarchy. Marxist thought, notably Engels, linked the rise of agriculture about 10,000 years ago to sedentism, wealth accumulation, inheritance rules, and the emergence of male elites. Anthropologists observed wide variation in gender relations across societies and suspected similar prehistoric diversity, but sex and gender were often hard to determine in ancient remains. The ancient DNA revolution and isotopic analysis enabled sexing, kinship, mobility, and diet reconstruction. New genetic and chemical evidence indicates diverse prehistoric gender systems without a single watershed transition.

Read at www.theguardian.com