Was prehistory a feminist paradise?

Visions of matriarchal utopia may be wishful thinking, but there’s growing evidence of women wielding power

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here 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.