An ancient cemetery reveals a Celtic tribe that lived in England 2,000 years ago and that was organized around maternal lineages, according to a DNA analysis.

Ancient DNA reveals that during the Iron Age, women in ancient Celtic societies were at the center of their social networks — unlike previous eras of prehistory.

DNA analysis indicates that a Celtic tribe in Iron Age Britain was matrilocal, meaning men relocated to live with women’s families.

Women in Britain 2,000 years ago appear to have passed on land and wealth to daughters not sons as communities were built around women's blood lines, according to new research. Skeletons unearthed in Dorset contained DNA evidence that Celtic men moved to live with their wives' families and communities.

For millennia leading up to 800BC, communities in Britain were centered around male bloodlines, meaning that upon marriage, women left their homes to join the communities of their husbands. But that appears to have changed with the dawning of the Iron Age.