Scythian Warrior Women

[Recusant]

Excavation of a burial mound in Voronezh Oblast on the forest steppe of western Russia provides strong evidence of gender egalitarianism (at least in regard to who gets to be well dressed, ride a horse, and fight) among the ancient Scythians.

I think the article from The Washington Post is a bit inaccurate when it claims that "ancient Greek stories" said that Amazons lived right where these burials were located. The Greek sources that I'm aware of all place the Amazons in what is now Turkey, some (Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus) saying they're near the southern shore of the Black Sea, and at least one (Homer) claiming they were found near Lycia, on the northern shore of the Mediterranean.

Perhaps the press is playing up the Amazon thing partly because at least one of the scientists did the same. There are some interesting quotes from Adrienne Mayor, who seems pretty committed to the Amazon angle as well as an archaeologist who follows a similar line (I found an MSN link, to avoid the looming paywall at the Post) and the press release it worth reading as well.

As the article notes, this isn't the first time this sort of thing has been found. As well as those it mentions, there have been Viking burials found holding women buried with armaments. Of course, Caesar talked about the warrior women of the Gauls. This would appear to be another example of an older culture in which women were not merely chattel, as was common in the European continent later.

"Amazons were long considered a myth. These discoveries show warrior women were real." | MSN/The Washington Post

A ceremonial headdress known as a calathus on the skull of a Scythian woman.
Image Credit: archaeolog.ru

For a long time, modern scholars believed that the Amazons were little more than a figment of ancient imaginations.

These were the fierce warrior women of Ancient Greek lore who supposedly sparred with Hercules, lived in lesbian matriarchies and hacked off their breasts so they could better fire their arrows. Homer immortalized them in "The Iliad." Eons later, they played a central role in the Wonder Woman comics.

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.

But a growing body of archaeological evidence shows that legends about the horseback-riding, bow-wielding female fighters were almost certainly rooted in reality. Myths about the Amazons' homosexuality and self-mutilation are still dubious at best, but new research appears to confirm that there really were groups of nomadic women who trained, hunted and battled alongside their male counterparts on the Eurasian steppe.

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.

[Continues . . .]

***

"Archaeologists found the burial of Scythian Amazon with a head dress on Don" | EurekAlert!

The burial of the Amazon with a head dress made of precious metal dated back to the second half of the 4th c BC was found by the staff of the Don expedition of IA RAS during the examination of the cemetery Devitsa V of Voronezh Oblast. This is the first found in Middle Don river and well preserved ceremonial headdress of a rich Scythian women, earlier archaeologists
found only fragments of such head dresses.
Image Credit: archaeolog.ru

Valerii Guliaev, the head of Don expedition, announced the first results of the examination on the 6th of December at the session of Academic Council of IA RAS.

"Such head dresses have been found a bit more than two dozen and they all were in 'tzar' or not very rich barrows of the steppe zone of Scythia. We first found such head dress in the barrows of the forest steppe zone and what is more interesting the head dress was first found in the burial of an Amazon", says Valerii Guliaev.

Cemetery Devitsa V which was called so after the name of the local village has been known since 2000s. It consists of 19 mounds part of which is almost hidden as this region is an agricultural zone which is currently plowed. Since 2010 the site has been studied by the specialists of the Don expedition of IA RAS.

[Continues . . .]

[Ecurb Noselrub]

One theory for the origin of the word "amazon" is that it is "a" (without) + "mastos" (breast), because they supposedly cut off their breast to aid in fighting, especially shooting a bow and arrow. 

[Recusant]

I did some more reading, and realized I was too quick to dismiss the geographical reference. Herodotus does give the place of origin of the Amazons as being around the river Thermodon. However, he describes the Battle of Thermodon, in which Amazons were captured by Greeks and taken aboard a ship on the Black Sea. The Amazons killed the crew of the ship but not being sailors, found themselves more or less adrift in a storm. They eventually made landfall on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov (after somehow managing to navigate the Kerch Strait by accident, apparently). There they encountered the Scythians and the result was a people known as the Sarmatians. I looked at a number of sources, but this one relates directly to the find described in the OP, and gives a synopsis of the Herodotus story.

Now, Herodotus is known as the "father of history" but another epithet applied to him is "father of lies." This tale of his may have its origin in an actual event but as with many of the things he wrote, clearly owes much of its content to the imagination of his source.

I'll give one more source, with a longer article that gives more detailed information (including additional material from Herodotus that is somewhat contradictory). It describes itself as "Pop Archaeology" and I can't vouch for its accuracy: "The Amazons: The Real Female Fighters Dispelling Myth & Legend" | Ancient Origins

[Lark]

Interesting. Do we believe in Boadicea ? Yes !! So why not a group of such minded women especially when found with weapons etc. We rather fell back later on though. Thanks.

[Recusant]

One theory for the origin of the word "amazon" is that it is "a" (without) + "mastos" (breast), because they supposedly cut off their breast to aid in fighting, especially shooting a bow and arrow.

The Oxford English Dictionary describes that as "probably pop. etym. [popular etymology i.e. likely spurious and incorrect] of an unknown foreign word," dating back to the Greeks themselves. The Online Etymology Dictionary agrees, describing it as "folk etymology."

[xSilverPhinx]

Fascinating!

[Recusant]

A girl of approximately 13 years old was buried in Siberia with weapons indicating that she was a warrior.

"New DNA Analysis Reveals Ancient Scythian Warrior Was a 13-Year-Old Girl" | ScienceAlert

Late last year, an archaeological discovery of two women thought to be nomadic Scythians from around 2,500 years ago (4th century BCE) was revealed. They were buried in what's now the western Russian village of Devitsa, with parts of a horse-riding harness and weapons, including iron knives and 30 arrowheads.

"We can certainly say that these two women were horse warriors," said archaeologist Valerii Guliaev of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology at the time.

[. . .]

Now, another team from Russia has mapped the genome of 2,600-year-old Scythian remains that had been discovered in a wooden sarcophagus with an array of weapons back in 1988.

"This child was initially considered to be male because with him were found characteristics [usually attributed to male] archaeological finds: an axe, a bow, arrows," archaeologist Varvara Busova from the Russian Academy of Sciences told ScienceAlert.

But the child's DNA revealed the remains were actually female. "That means we can say with some probability that [Scythian] girls have also participated in hunting or military campaigns," Busova added.

The warrior girl was buried in Siberia's modern-day Tuva republic, with an axe, a birch bow and a quiver with ten arrows - some wood, bone or bronze tipped. Due to the larch coffin sealing tightly against fresh air, her remains were partially mummified.

[Continues . . .]

[Randy]

Considering she was only thirteen years old probably meant middle aged for the time. The average person may not have lived past thirty. I'd have to look it up to be sure. I'm also pretty sure that some lived into their forties and beyond but it gets rare, especially if they traveled far where they weren't immune to alien diseases.

I'd expect a lot of child warriors I guess though we don't see those on TV.

[xSilverPhinx]

Considering she was only thirteen years old probably meant middle aged for the time. The average person may not have lived past thirty. I'd have to look it up to be sure. I'm also pretty sure that some lived into their forties and beyond but it gets rare, especially if they traveled far where they weren't immune to alien diseases.

I'd expect a lot of child warriors I guess though we don't see those on TV.

My thoughts too.