A lineage tracks a known ancestor; a clan often cannot
Anthropologists call a lineage a unilineal descent group tied to a demonstrable apical ancestor whom members can actually name. Unlike many clans, which claim a distant or mythical forebear without full genealogies, lineages keep countable links through fathers or mothers.
Unilineal membership means tracing through one sex only: patrilineages follow men, matrilineages follow women, so children inherit group identity from father or mother accordingly. The English word descends from Middle English and Old French forms of Latin linea, meaning a line. Structurally the word is simply line plus the suffix -age.
Well-known matrilineal cases include the Minangkabau of Indonesia and the Khasi of India, and Jewish identity in the Jewish religion also passes through the mother; such a lineage runs from a woman to her children and her daughters' offspring. Patrilineages, running from a father through his children and their children, are more common worldwide and appear across much of Southeast Asia. A third arrangement, ambilineal descent, lets people choose to join the mother's group, the father's, or both. Ambilineal systems can be either bilineal or bilateral.
Under bilineal or double descent, a child belongs to both parents' groups at once, which swells lineage size; the Yako of Nigeria follow this pattern. Lineages matter well beyond family trees. Property and titles often pass down inside them, a person's ancestry can decide both religion and standing within it, and the structure provides stability and binds members through social obligations. Clans differ in that their members believe in a shared forebear who may be symbolic or mythical rather than a traceable historical figure, which is why social anthropologists have treated the lineage as a distinct unit of study.
Source: Lineage (anthropology)
