http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/sumeria.htm

Goto the website above & get a view of the rise of the human race. Note that the earliest form of a humanized god is female & that her selected are priestesses. Althought it does not mean the society is a matriarchy, it is most likely pro-matriarchial as the ones who held the most influence would most likely be the priestly class.
Patriarchy emerged somewhere after that & the fact that goddess worship is suppressed most fervently (lack of goddesses & emphasis on a male god/creator, making the 1st human male & not from the womb) would of course result in evidence pointing to a matriarchy being destroyed or altered to prevent the females from being in power again.
Although the ancient hebrews may not be preceded by a matriarchy, we can safely bet that they are descendants of a pro-matriarchy like culture whereby their lives are if not governed, most definitely influenced by females.