爱尔兰都柏林圣三一学院Lara M. Cassidy研究团队，揭示了铁器时代英国的大陆性流入和普遍的母系居住现象。该项研究成果于2025年1月15日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。

据介绍，罗马作家认为凯尔特女性的相对赋权现象十分引人注目。在英国南部，晚期铁器时代的杜罗特里吉斯部落经常将女性埋葬时配以大量随葬品。

研究人员分析了来自杜罗特里吉斯埋葬地点的57个古代基因组，发现了一个以单一母系血统为中心的扩展亲属群体，而无关的（可能是向内迁移的）埋葬主要是男性。这样的母系居住模式在欧洲史前时期尚未被描述，但当研究人员比较跨越六千年的，欧洲考古遗址中的线粒体单倍型变异时，英国铁器时代的墓地由于主导母系血统的存在，而显著减少了多样性。单倍型共享的模式表明，英国铁器时代的人群形成了精细的地理集群，南部的联系延伸至海峡对岸的欧洲大陆。

实际上，尽管大部分英国地区从早期青铜时代，到铁器时代的基因组连续性较强，但在南部沿海核心区域，这种连续性明显减少，且存在持久的跨海峡文化交流。这一南部核心地区在中期青铜时代就有人口流入的证据，并且在铁器时代仍然持续。这与岛屿其他地区不同，表明大陆性影响的吸收是逐步进行的，且具有地理颗粒性，可能包括凯尔特语言的引入。

附：英文原文

Title: Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain

Author: Cassidy, Lara M., Russell, Miles, Smith, Martin, Delbarre, Gabrielle, Cheetham, Paul, Manley, Harry, Mattiangeli, Valeria, Breslin, Emily M., Jackson, Iseult, McCann, Maeve, Little, Harry, OConnor, Ciarn G., Heaslip, Beth, Lawson, Daniel, Endicott, Phillip, Bradley, Daniel G.

Issue&Volume: 2025-01-15

Abstract: Roman writers found the relative empowerment of Celtic women remarkable1. In southern Britain, the Late Iron Age Durotriges tribe often buried women with substantial grave goods2. Here we analyse 57 ancient genomes from Durotrigian burial sites and find an extended kin group centred around a single maternal lineage, with unrelated (presumably inward migrating) burials being predominantly male. Such a matrilocal pattern is undescribed in European prehistory, but when we compare mitochondrial haplotype variation among European archaeological sites spanning six millennia, British Iron Age cemeteries stand out as having marked reductions in diversity driven by the presence of dominant matrilines. Patterns of haplotype sharing reveal that British Iron Age populations form fine-grained geographical clusters with southern links extending across the channel to the continent. Indeed, whereas most of Britain shows majority genomic continuity from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age, this is markedly reduced in a southern coastal core region with persistent cross-channel cultural exchange3. This southern core has evidence of population influx in the Middle Bronze Age but also during the Iron Age. This is asynchronous with the rest of the island and points towards a staged, geographically granular absorption of continental influence, possibly including the acquisition of Celtic languages.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08409-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08409-6