The Myth of Matriarchal
Prehistory: “One of the more popular accounts of prehistoric human society is
that it was matriarchal: that women ruled globally, for hundreds of
thousands of years, until a patriarchal revolution reversed things
about 5000 years ago. Women were the heads of the households;
they worshipped goddesses, or a single great goddess; men
revered them and acceded to their rule.

It’s not hard to figure out why this theory became so popular among
second-wave feminists in the 70s, many of whom were coming out of
the Wiccan and neopagan movements. In fact, goddess worship had
been proposed as early as the 19th century, and vitalized by
archaeological findings of goddess figurines from early excavations.” Interview with Cynthia Eller, a professor of women and religion at Montclair State
University, who argues in her new book The Myth of Matriarchal
Prehistory that this speculative theory should be scrapped. New York Press