9,000 years ago in southern Turkey, a proto-city of 8,000 people had a rule nobody wrote down.
The women stayed. The men moved in.
DNA from 131 skeletons, analyzed over 12 years, just confirmed it. Family identity passed through the mother’s line. Girl infants were buried with five times more grave goods than boys.
One archaeologist said it plainly: “If the sex patterns were reversed, there would likely be little hesitation in concluding that patriarchal power structures were at play.”
Tuesday. Çatalhöyük. The oldest female-centered society DNA has ever confirmed.
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