Posted February 24, 2017 16:23:27

Photo: Pueblo Bonito was the largest great house in Chaco Canyon. (Wikimedia Commons)

An ancient civilisation in the Americas passed on power only to those born from elite women, new DNA evidence has shown.

The society, which lived in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, ruled the area from about 800 to 1130 AD.

Scientists carried out DNA testing on human skeletons found in a crypt at the centre of the 650-room Pueblo Bonito, one of the "great houses" of the society.

The 14 skeletons, first excavated in 1896, were likely of elite members of the society because of the lavish ways they were buried.

Photo: Thousands of turquoise and shell beads and pendants had been found with the skeletal remains. (Supplied: Roderick Mickens/American Museum of Natural History)

Thousands of turquoise and shell beads and pendants, as well as abalone shells and a conch shell trumpet, had been found with the skeletal remains.

"The abundance of turquoise alone makes this the richest burial known in the North American south west," the scientists said, in the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

The genetic analysis of nine of the remains found the individuals had identical mitochondrial genomes.

These genomes can only be inherited through mothers, which means the individuals all shared maternal ancestry.

Radiocarbon dating and analysis of the nuclear genome data also found mother-daughter and grandmother-grandson relationships.

"Women living at Pueblo Bonito likely had power and a great deal of influence on what was happening in society," the study's lead author, Douglas Kennett, said.

While most ancient societies were ruled by a patrilineal dynasty — meaning power was passed through the father's line — the Lycians of ancient Turkey were another matrilineal society.

The evidence for a maternal dynasty does not suggest the society was dominated by women, Dr Kennett said.

But it does show women were given an important role, and that men were only considered elite if they were the sons of elite women.

"Both men and women were influential, and were leaders in the Chaco society, but basically that influence was passed along the maternal line," Dr Kennett said.

This study is the first time both archaeological and DNA analyses have been used to determine the hereditary relationships within an elite lineage.

The society lacked a written system, which means scientists are still unsure on further details about how the society was organised.

It is also not clear if the remains represent all of Chacoan society or just one elite family within the society.

Topics: archaeology, anthropology-and-sociology, dna, dna-testing, united-states