Amazons Were Long Considered a Myth. These Discoveries Show Warrior Women Were Real.
martyb writes:
Amazons Were Long Considered a Myth. These Discoveries Show Warrior Women Were Real:
For a long time, modern scholars believed that the Amazons were little more than a figment of ancient imaginations.
[...] Some historians argued that they were probably a propaganda tool created to keep Athenian women in line. Another theory suggested that they may have been beardless men mistaken for women by the Greeks.
[...] In a landmark discovery revealed this month, archaeologists unearthed the remains of four female warriors buried with a cache of arrowheads, spears and horseback-riding equipment in a tomb in western Russia - right where Ancient Greek stories placed the Amazons.
The team from the Institute of Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Sciences identified the women as Scythian nomads who were interred at a burial site some 2,500 years ago near the present-day community of Devitsa. The women ranged in age from early teens to late 40s, according to the archaeologists. And the eldest of the women was found wearing a golden ceremonial headdress, a calathus, engraved with floral ornaments - an indication of stature.
[...] Earlier excavations have turned up similar evidence, though not always so well preserved. In 2017, Armenian researchers discovered the remains of a woman in her 20s who they said resembled Amazon myths. They found that she died from battle injuries. Their report in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology noted that she had an arrowhead buried in her leg and that her bone and muscle structure indicated she rode horses.
The new discovery in Russia marked the first time multiple generations of Scythian women were found buried together, according to the researchers. The youngest of the bodies may have belonged to a girl roughly 12 or 13 years old. Two others were women in their 20s, according to the researchers, and the fourth was between 45 and 50.
[...] The discovery also represents the first time such a remarkably well-preserved headdress was found on a warrior woman's head. According to the researchers, the headdress was 65 to 70 percent gold - a far higher portion than is often found in Scythian jewelry, which is typically about 30 percent.
An Early Armenian female warrior of the 8-6 century BC from Bover I site (Armenia), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (DOI: 10.1002/oa.2838)
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