Evidence found of early family-centric society in East Asia, challenging traditional evolution model
A research team has discovered that the earliest social structure in East Asia was a family-centered social organization model, a finding that challenges the previously assumed linear evolution from matrilineal to patrilineal systems.
Headed by Fu Qiaomei of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team worked in collaboration with the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Xiamen University.
The team conducted high-resolution, systematic nuclear genome research on 35 ancient human bone samples from the northern grassland region on the southeastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau dating back 8,800 to 5,000 years.
Through the research, the team identified the earliest known social structure in East Asia — a family-centered organization model on the southeastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau dating from 8,800 to 7,500 years ago. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the evolution of prehistoric social structures, the report said.
The team also studied numerous residential sites, agricultural tools and millet remains unearthed in Xinglong, Sitai and other sites in North China’s Hebei Province. They discovered that by 8,800 to 7,500 years ago, early sedentary societies linked to agricultural production had already formed in the northern grassland region, making it one of the earliest large-scale settlements in Northeast Asia.
Contrary to the traditional view that prehistoric societies evolved from matriarchal to patriarchal systems with the development of agriculture, the team found that joint burial tombs at Xinglong and Sitai consisted mainly of nuclear families of parents and their children. These tombs displayed no clear matriarchal or patriarchal genetic characteristics, nor were residential patterns dominated by either lineage systems.
This discovery not only confirms a family-centered early social organization model but also challenges the previously assumed linear evolution from matrilineal to patrilineal systems, indicating that prehistoric societies exhibited diverse social organization models, according to the report.
Additionally, non-kin members were found in collective burials at the Xinglong site, while the 13 individuals buried collectively at the Sitai site included three different families and three individuals unrelated to any of them.
This suggests that, beyond the family-centric model, the Xinglong and Sitai communities may have been open to incorporating non-kin members, forming a social structure that extended beyond individual families and fostering a cooperative, inclusive organization.
The study also found that the populations at Xinglong and Sitai generally avoided close-kin and intra-clan marriages, in stark contrast to the relatively common practices of intra-clan and close-kin unions observed at other prehistoric sites.
This indicates that as early as 8,800 to 7,500 years ago, populations on the southeastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau had already begun consciously avoiding intra-clan or close-kin marriages, suggesting the existence of early marriage norms and social regulatory mechanisms, and reflecting the diversity of prehistoric East Asian marriage systems.
The team’s ancient genomics research was recently published as two parallel papers in the academic journal The Innovation. They reveal that the southeastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau was not only an important cradle of Neolithic society but also a hub of Neolithic cultures and the origin of northern grassland cultures, serving as one of the key early sources in the formation of a unified multi-ethnic society.
