 In 19th-century Western scholarship, the hypothesis of matriarchy representing an early, mainly prehistoric, stage of human development gained popularity.Possibilities of so-called primitive societies were cited and the hypothesis survived into the 20th century, including in the context of second-wave feminism.This hypothesis was criticized by some authors such as Cynthia Eller in "The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory" (who blamed Marija Gimbutas) and remains as a largely unsolved question to this day.