
-
UK economy unexpectedly shrinks in January in blow to govt
-
UniCredit gets ECB nod for Commerzbank stake
-
Verstappen blames grip for early Australia struggles
-
WFP to cut food aid to 1 million people in Myanmar
-
BMW warns on tariffs, China as 2024 profits plunge
-
Driving ban puts brakes on young women in Turkmenistan
-
East DR Congo mines mint Rwanda-backed M23's fortune
-
Stargazers marvel at 'Blood Moon', rare total lunar eclipse
-
US shutdown threat piles pressure on government hit by Trump cuts
-
Peaceful Czechs grapple with youth violence
-
Ivorian painter Aboudia takes teen rebellion to top of the art world
-
Leclerc fastest in second Australian GP practice, Hamilton fifth
-
China urges end to 'illegal' sanctions as it hosts Iran nuclear talks
-
China hosts Iranian, Russian diplomats for nuclear talks
-
Ireland eye unlikely Six Nations title against uncertain Italy
-
Duterte's first ICC appearance set for Friday
-
From oil spills to new species: how tech reveals the ocean
-
Curry bags record 4,000th three-pointer as Warriors rout Kings
-
Hong Kong museum puts Picasso in cross-cultural dialogue
-
Alcaraz three-peat bid on track as Cerundolo downed
-
Chinese, Iranian, Russian diplomats meet for nuclear talks
-
England's Harry Brook banned from IPL for two years
-
Curry bags record 4,000th three-pointer as Warriors face Kings
-
Former sex worker records Tokyo's red-light history
-
Australians welcome departure of baby wombat grabber
-
Nepal community efforts revive red panda population
-
Norris fastest in first Australian GP practice, Hamilton 12th
-
Doncic drops 45 but Lakers pounded in Bucks loss
-
Most Asian markets rise on hopes for bill to avert US shutdown
-
ICC arrest, impeachment leave Duterte clan's political future in doubt
-
China deports Japanese tourists over Great Wall buttocks pic: reports
-
Swiatek to face Andreeva, Sabalenka meets Keys in Indian Wells semi-finals
-
Messi scores off the bench as Miami progress in Jamaica
-
War of words: Myanmar migrants face disinformation in Thailand
-
France eye 'supreme objective' of Six Nations as Scotland visit
-
Barca face Atletico rematch after defeat sparked unbeaten streak
-
Man City in Brighton test as Arsenal face Chelsea clash
-
Marseille face up to gulf separating them from PSG in France
-
England's Six Nations ambitions on the line against Wales
-
Take 'precautionary approach' on deep-sea mining: top official tells AFP
-
Renowned US health research hub Johns Hopkins to slash 2,000 jobs
-
Russian teen Andreeva focused on the job as WTA ranking rises
-
McIlroy tight-lipped about apologetic heckler incident
-
Panama 'firm' on canal as US reportedly weighs options
-
Four-song EP by late singer Faithfull to be released in April
-
You're kidding! Prince William reveals Aston Villa superstitions
-
Villegas, Spaun and Glover share Players lead, McIlroy one back
-
Top US university says ending 2,000 positions due to Trump cuts
-
Rangers down angry Mourinho's Fenerbahce to reach Europa League quarters
-
Brazil top court to consider Bolsonaro 'coup' case on March 25

Society centred around women in UK during Iron Age: scientists
Scientists analysing 2,000-year-old DNA have revealed that a Celtic society in the southern UK during the Iron Age was centred around women, backing up accounts from Roman historians, a study said Wednesday.
When historians such as Tacitus and Cassius wrote about Rome conquering Britain from around AD 44 to 84, they described women holding positions of power.
These include the famous warrior queen Boudica, who started an uprising against Roman occupation, sacking and burning several cities including Londinium -- which would one day become London. There was also Cartimandua, the 1st-century queen of the Brigantes people in northern England.
Julius Caesar, in his account of the Gallic Wars written more than more than century earlier, also described Celtic women participating in public affairs, exercising political influence -- and having more than one husband.
"When the Romans arrived, they were astonished to find women occupying positions of power," said Miles Russell, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University and co-author of the new study in Nature.
Some had doubted these accounts, suggesting "that the Romans exaggerated the liberties of British women to paint a picture of an untamed society," he told AFP.
"But archaeology, and now genetics, implies women were influential in many spheres of Iron Age life," he said.
"Indeed, it is possible that maternal ancestry was the primary shaper of group identities."
- Men moved on, women stayed put -
For the study, the team of researchers analysed more than 50 genomes extracted from burial sites in the village of Winterborne Kingston in southern England's Dorset county, which was populated before and after the Roman conquest.
Iron Age cemeteries with well-preserved burial sites are rare in Britain, perhaps because the dead were often cremated, stripped of their flesh and organs, or simply "deposited in wetlands", the researchers wrote.
However the Durotriges tribe, which occupied the southern central coastal region of England between 100 BC and AD 100 -- and gave their name to Dorset -- were an exception, burying their dead in cemeteries.
Excavations carried out at these sites since 2009 had already yielded some clues about the high social status women held in the tribe.
The "well-appointed graves across the Dorset Iron Age" containing drinking vessels, mirrors, beads and other goods were all female -- except for one that included a sword, said Russell, who led the excavations.
The DNA analysis showed that most of the people buried at the site were related through their maternal line, going "back to a single woman, who would have lived centuries before", said lead study author Lara Cassidy of Trinity College Dublin.
However there were almost no connections down the paternal line.
"This tells us that husbands moved to join their wives' communities upon marriage, with land potentially passed down through the female line," Cassidy said in a statement.
Societies centred around women -- which ethnographers call a "matrilocality" -- are rare throughout this period of history.
Yet the researchers trawled through previous research and "found signatures of matrilocality in a number of cemeteries across Britain dating to the Middle and Late Iron Age," from around 400 BC onwards, Cassidy said.
"However, it is quite possible this system was also common in the early Iron Age or perhaps even earlier."
H.Seidel--BTB