Women -centered society has been a success in Türkiye

The genetic analysis of skeletons buried in a neolithic city in Türkiye reveals that this 9000 -year -old agricultural society was strongly centered on women – who was doing a remarkable job.

The old DNA of stone age burials in Türkiye finally ended a debate of decades about whether Protocity of çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society.

A new study, this Thursday at Science, finally confirmed what experts had long suspected: women and girls were key figures in this agricultural society, 9000 years old.

“With çatalhöyük, we now have the oldest standard of genetically inferred social organization in food -producing societies, which is eventually centered on women,” announced the study author of the study Mehmet Somelfrom the Technical University of the Middle East, in Türkiye, in statements to.

Located in central south of Türkiye, çatalhöyük was built around 7100 BC and was occupied for almost 1000 years.

The vast village is known for its homes where the roofs were entered, the burials under the floor of the houses and the elaborate symbolism that included vivid murals and a diverse set of female figures.

When archaeologist James Mellaart was first outing for the early 1960s in the early 1960s, he played the numerous female statuettes as proof of a matriarchal society that practiced the cult of the “mother goddess”perhaps as a way to ensure a good harvest after an important economic transition from subsistence agriculture to cereal -based agriculture.

Now, to further investigate the social organization in çatalhöyük, the investigators team analyzed the DNA of 131 skeletons dated between 7100 and 5800 BC that were buried under the floor of the houses.

Matriarchy or just female strains?

In this study, an interesting trend was found in the intergenerational links between domestic burials, the researchers observed: they were based mainly in maternal strains.

“We were not particularly looking for these maternal bonds within buildings, but this clearly shows that man -centered practices that people have often documented in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe were not universal,” Somel said.

A female trend in the objects of the graves.

“The standard of more female babies funerals were not something we expected either,” said the corresponding author.

As Live Science, çatalhöyük praises older society where DNA tests revealed a social organization centered.

Çatalhöyük is now strongly contrasts with the patrilineal standards observed in neolithic Europe, which raises the intriguing question of when, how and why there was such a profound change in social organization.