Ancient DNA reveals an Iron Age British society structured by recurrent unions between dominant maternal lineages
Previous ancient DNA studies have revealed evidence for matrilocal settlement organisation in Iron Age Britain, based on a pedigree of several dozen individuals from a cemetery in the south-west of England. Here, reporting the analysis of genome-wide data for 534 individuals from the Arras Culture of Middle Iron Age northeast England (including 390 from Wetwang Slack, 100 from Pocklington, and 29 from Melton), we find evidence for communities with kinship systems structured along matrilineal lines. At Wetwang Slack, we reconstruct a 13-generation pedigree comprising 195 individuals structured around female-line connections: matrilineal transmissions greatly outnumbered patrilineal ones, adult daughters were more frequently retained in the burial community than adult sons, male reproductive partners were largely absent from the cemetery, plausibly because they were  buried in their own natal communities. Furthermore, all three main sites were characterized by non-overlapping dominant mitochondrial haplogroups, implying a maternal clan-based structure. Reproductive unions at Wetwang Slack suggest the recurrent alliance between dominant maternal descent groups, with members of each group never reproducing with members of their own maternal lineage. Three individuals from lavishly furnished 'chariot burials' at Wetwang Slack were close maternal relatives belonging to a different mitochondrial haplogroup from the major ones in the main cemetery, and they belonged to a lineage with consecutive generations of close kin unions, a pattern largely absent among other individuals at the site. These results indicate highly distinctive social practices among an elite group embedded in the wider kinship network of the Arras community.
Previous ancient DNA studies have revealed evidence for matrilocal settlement organisation in Iron Age Britain, based on a pedigree of several dozen individuals from a cemetery in the south-west of England. Here, reporting the analysis of genome-wide data for 534 individuals from the Arras Culture of Middle Iron Age northeast England (including 390 from Wetwang Slack, 100 from Pocklington, and 29 from Melton), we find evidence for communities with kinship systems structured along matrilineal lines. At Wetwang Slack, we reconstruct a 13-generation pedigree comprising 195 individuals structured around female-line connections: matrilineal transmissions greatly outnumbered patrilineal ones, adult daughters were more frequently retained in the burial community than adult sons, male reproductive partners were largely absent from the cemetery, plausibly because they were  buried in their own natal communities. Furthermore, all three main sites were characterized by non-overlapping dominant mitochondrial haplogroups, implying a maternal clan-based structure. Reproductive unions at Wetwang Slack suggest the recurrent alliance between dominant maternal descent groups, with members of each group never reproducing with members of their own maternal lineage. Three individuals from lavishly furnished 'chariot burials' at Wetwang Slack were close maternal relatives belonging to a different mitochondrial haplogroup from the major ones in the main cemetery, and they belonged to a lineage with consecutive generations of close kin unions, a pattern largely absent among other individuals at the site. These results indicate highly distinctive social practices among an elite group embedded in the wider kinship network of the Arras community.