A groundbreaking study reveals evidence that, in Iron Age Britain, land inheritance followed the female line, with husbands relocating to live within their wives' communities. This marks the first documented instance of such a system in European prehistory.

Geneticist Lara Cassidy wasn’t surprised to find several generations of the same family buried in an Iron Age cemetery near Dorset, England. But she was quite surprised to find most of them were related along a single matrilineal line.

Roman writers found the relative empowerment of Celtic women in British society remarkable, according to surviving written records. New DNA research from the University of Bournemouth shows one of the ways this empowerment manifested—inheritance through the female line.

Scientists analyzing 2,000-year-old DNA have revealed that a Celtic society in the southern U.K. during the Iron Age was centered around women, a study said.

Fragments of copper alloy unearthed at one of Britain's most important archaeology sites have been revealed to be parts of an incredibly rare Iron Age helmet. The discovery was made by the British Museum during a 15-year project analysing 14 hoards of gold,

An international team of geneticists, led by those from Trinity College Dublin, has joined forces with archaeologists from Bournemouth University to decipher the structure of British Iron Age society,

A new DNA-based study challenges the conventional understanding that Iron Age Britain society was dominated by men.

Some scholars have suggested that the Romans exaggerated the liberties of women on the British Isles to imply that this was a more uncivilized society. However, this genetic and skeletal evidence implies that women were likely influential and could have been shaping group identity through matrilineal lines.

Reconstruction of Iron Age helmet (top) from copper alloy fragments (above) found in the hoard. SNETTISHAM, ENGLAND—Metal fragments previously thought to be part of a vessel are

Around 2,000 years ago, before the Roman Empire conquered Great Britain, women were at the very front and center of Iron Age society. Researchers have sequenced the genomes of around 50 Celtic Britons buried together in southern England and uncovered strong evidence of female-line descent.

Real authority behind most decision-making rested with female leaders such as Boudica, say academics

Celtic women’s social and political standing in Iron Age England has received a genetic lift.