The woman's strong bones, muscular build, and multiple battle injuries suggest she was a seasoned warrior with a rugged past.
Anahit Khudaverdyan and others. A group of researchers discovered the burial of a young female archer in the Armenian mountains.
In a unique discovery linked to the ancient kingdoms of Armenia, archaeologists have found the grave of a woman with multiple injuries, including wounds to her hips and legs, indicating she was a fighter in her life.
Scientists speculate that the woman may have been a trained warrior, like the Amazons the ancient Greeks wrote about.
According to Forbes , the grave was found in the highlands of Armenia, where the kingdom of Urartu is believed to have flourished in the 9th to 6th centuries BCE. Inside the grave were the skeletal remains of a woman buried with ceramic vessels and jewelry dating back to the early Armenian period.
The bones were discovered at the Bover I necropolis in Lori Province in 2017 and were initially thought to belong to a woman in her 20s who had high status in the kingdom. However, further examination of the skeleton revealed that she was likely more than just a wealthy elite.
Upon closer analysis, a team of Armenian researchers led by Anahit Khudaverdyan from the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia found that the woman had a muscular build, typical of people who undergo intense physical training.
Her upper body muscle attachments indicated “considerable physical activity,” with her pectoral and deltoid muscles “used to flex and adduct the arm at shoulder level.” These findings suggest she may have been a trained archer, regularly drawing powerful bowstrings.
Anait Khudaverdyan and others. Various traces of injuries and wounds on the woman’s body indicate her frequent participation in battles.
The woman's thigh bones also showed prominent gluteal muscles, which the researchers believe may be a result of military training, such as horse riding. In addition to the strong bones, the woman's skeleton was found to have numerous injuries – an arrowhead lodged in her left knee, as well as blows and stab wounds to her left femur, right thigh, and left shin.
The number of injuries on the woman's body “underscores that for this early Armenian woman from Bover I, interpersonal violence was a constant aspect of life,” the archaeologists said.
In addition, the scientists found at least two separate slash wounds inflicted by different weapons — likely an axe and a sword — around the time she died, indicating she was attacked by more than one person, consistent with battlefield conditions.
Based on all this evidence, the researchers concluded that the woman was a professionally trained archer who died in battle. Judging by the offerings in her tomb, she was buried as a high-ranking person.
This is a remarkable discovery, given that very few burials of female warriors from this culture have been found so far, despite previous evidence that both men and women participated in battles.
The people of the Urartu kingdom used arrows and riding horses for hunting, but they also used the same arrowheads as weapons against intruders during battle. The kings probably fought their enemies together with their wives.
The widespread participation of women in the wars of Urartu prompted researchers to hypothesize that the warriors of this kingdom could have become the prototype of the Amazons.
Sourse: www.allthatsinteresting.com
