Painted pottery (bottom left) from the Fujia cemetery, as well as from the southern grave (FJ_S21; middle left) and northern grave (FJ_N07; top left). The right panel illustrates the layout and features of the Fujia archaeological site, highlighting residential areas, pottery kilns and the two cemeteries. Scale bar, 50 m. Credit: J. Wang et al., Nature (2025)

China: DNA Study Reveals “Fujia” Matrilineal Society! (4.1.2026)

All 14 individuals from the northern cemetery possessed the same maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA haplogroup — a genetic population group sharing a common ancestor — and exhibited identical mitochondrial DNA sequences, while 44 of the 46 individuals from the southern cemetery had another mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and identical mitochondrial DNA sequences, indicating that the individuals in each group shared a maternal lineage.