SCI DNA shows Scythian warrior mummy was a 13-year-old girl

[Melodi]

The unusual things about this grave are not that the warrior is female, that's been shown to be fairly common among these steps people since the early 1990s. It is her very young age and the fact that she doesn't have any of her "girlie" gear buried with her along with her weapons. Most of these burials are not symbolic, most of these women show signs of death in battle (or the signs of physical training in their bones), but this girl is so young you have to wonder what happened to her? Did she die in her first battle? Die of other causes? Or was Mary Renault correct when she fictionalized her "Amazons" as specialized warrior-priestesses who were chosen and trained to arms from childhood as specialists?

Please try to ignore the WOKE "Gender Fluid" stuff, which is putting modern concepts onto ancient people who may have thought of things in a totally different way. We have no way of knowing (yet) if the young women warriors buried in their Kurgon Graves were thought of as unusual warrior women (or priestesses) or if these people were like the Celts and Norse, where some women became specialist warriors in which case that's what they were: warriors/soldiers that was their job.

DNA shows Scythian warrior mummy was a 13-year-old girl

Thanks to modern technology, we can reexamine our assumptions about ancient warriors.

bigthink.com

DNA shows Scythian warrior mummy was a 13-year-old girl
Thanks to modern technology, we can reexamine our assumptions about ancient warriors.

Dr. Vladimir Semyonov

The 2600 year old remains of a 13 year old Scythian warrior

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The 2600-year-old remains of a young Scythian warrior are now known to be female.
• The young warrior appears to have been around 13 years old when she died.
• The findings shed light on the Scythian culture.

Throughout the literature of the ancient world, tales of great bands of warrior women captivated listeners’ imaginations. From China to Greece, stories of their exploits filled hearts with fear and awe. Recently, historians have begun to accept that the Amazons were real, in a way; they were slightly embellished versions of Scythian warriors.

While we’ve known for some time that many of the warrior graves their culture left behind were the burial sites of women, modern DNA analysis allows us to review if every skeleton previously thought to be male really is. One such review of a mummy found in 1988 proves that one young warrior was actually a 13-year-old girl.

The 2600-year-old remains were discovered at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva in 1988 when the region was still part of the USSR. Contained in a tightly sealed coffin made of larch trunk, the remains were mummified and well preserved. One report states that a wart on the child’s face was still evident. The coffin also contained a battle-ax, a quiver with arrows, a headdress, coat, and various bronze ornaments.

As the young warrior was presumed to be male, the researchers were surprised when they analyzed her genome and discovered the remains belonged to a young woman. Despite how common it is to see the remains of female warriors, this coffin did not contain items typically given to deceased women, such as beads or mirrors.

Excavator Marina Kilunovskaya explained this to Archaeology.org, “This discrepancy in the norms of the funeral rite received an unexpected explanation: firstly, the young man turned out to be a girl, and this young ‘Amazon’ had not yet reached the age of 14 years.”

The research team will now attempt to get a more accurate dating of the remains and will use CT scans to try and learn precisely how this young warrior died. The various artifacts discovered in the coffin will also be analyzed for metal composition and preserved.

Debunking Gender Stereotypes
The Scythians were the rulers of the Steppes from Ukraine to Xinjiang and the probable inventors of horseback riding. These nomadic warriors also had a reasonably egalitarian society for the ancient world. Many sources agree that cross-dressing was common in their culture, and some go so far as to suggest their idea of gender was fluid.

Across the steppes, women were trained to be warriors just as men were and could prove fearsome in battle. Skeletal remains proven to be female (about a fifth of all discovered remains) often show the same battle injuries as males. Burial sites with weapons and all the honors of a warrior are common for both sexes. Just last year, the gravesite of other female warriors were found.

They were known as a warlike people, and it is thought entire tribes participated in battles. It was said that no nation could stand against them without outside help. However, they also made beautiful art, had an elaborate religious system, and were known for their unique clothing. They had no written language, but descriptions of their culture endure in the writings of their neighbors.
Even if the Amazons weren’t quite real, they were based on an existing culture. As we learn more about how the Scythians lived and died, we’re better able to contextualize the stories and myths they appear in. As with all archaeological discoveries, it also allows us to better understand where humanity has been, so we might make a better choice of where we’re going.

 

[FMJ]

I can believe it. One of my daughters could have been a serious threat on a battlefield. Just sayin’.
Berserker type.

 

[Melodi]

A very difficult part of modern archeology is getting "over" our own cultural norms and perceptions and I don't mean that in some silly "woke" way that everything is "relative" or something. I mean just in terms of how we view things vs how people in the past may have viewed them.

There was a grave laid out in the museum Nightwolf and I went to during our honeymoon in Denmark, this is where ancient burials that for some reason MUST be moved usually for reasons safety or rescue archeology are taken. The tombs are set up in a field outside exactly as they were when they were found during the excavation and the bodies are tastefully laid in glass cases with all their grave goods, very low lighting, and a touch of respect.

Anyway, one of the "graves" was that of a young man somewhere between 13 and 15 years old. This was either the late bronze age or early iron age, I don't recall but the young man had been buried with full and expensive warrior honors. From a sword that would have cost the equivalent of a family car today, to various gold, silver, and other objects denoting a very high status, but especially in things connected to war.

The "information" plaque opined that this young man "must" have been Prince or something because he was "far too young" to have won honors for himself in battle.

I turned to Nightwolf and said: "I guess they never heard of Alexander the Great or Temujin (Genghis Khan) leading warbands and armies at 13?"...

We both agreed that while the young man probably was a prince or someone of high status, he also probably died in his first battle or two. If he really was fifteen, he might have been fighting for a least a year or two before he died.

Thinking 15 was too young to be a warrior in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age Scandinavia shows a totally modern bias in terms of what makes an adult, it also shows a lack of understanding of the fighting styles at the time but that's for a different thread or post.

 

[Jonas Parker]

So the mummy probably wasn't a mommy...

 

[colonel holman]

interpretations are often clouded by our own current stereotypes and our own social norms… what we ourselves expect or assume about 13 yo girls, warrior structure, sex roles. Just another normalcy bias

 

[Melodi]

So the mummy probably wasn't a mommy...

In that same display in Denmark, there were burials of several women from the late Stone Age (about 9,000 years ago) some of which were probably about 12 or 13 buried with their babies. However, they almost certainly died in childbirth (and yes I know you were making a joke) but it wasn't uncommon for women to give birth at very young ages.

"Mother Sweden" who also died about 9,000 years ago, had the marks of a least 20 pregnancies on the skeleton but was buried with a full kit of hunting tools suggesting that was her specialty. Obviously, ladies probably didn't go big game hunting with a baby on their backs, but if they were skilled at it they might leave the baby with their sister and go along on the hunt with the other hunters.

 

[WalknTrot]

"Kids" used to be in a hurry and make it a goal to prove themselves as adults and capable/responsible of adult activities ASAP.

That sure flipped in one generation. Recently.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Light battle ax? Bow? This makes sense to me. The show Vikings with the female vikings wielding heavy swords? Not so much. Sure some women could have but woman would be at a significant disadvantage due to men's superior upper body strength.

A bow would allow her to reach out and touch an enemy from a distance. The battle ax looks way lighter than a sword and is still capable of doing damage and possibly dragging enemies off horses. Stirrups weren't a thing until about 1066 in Europe. It is more challenging to stay in a saddle without stirrups.

 

[Freeholder]

The young ages at which so many people died are also why so many married very young -- if there was a good chance that the prince was going to die in battle at age 15, they would have wanted him to have an heir before then, if possible. Seems like one prince I read about (Britain, I think -- it's been quite a while since I read about it) was married at only twelve, and expected to try to get a baby started at that age.

Kathleen

ETA: I think that our culture keeps people juvenile for far too long. But there has to be some kind of a happy medium. Twelve or thirteen -- for babies or for battle -- is really too young.

 

[Dozdoats]

Stupid woke normalcy bias ....

I don't know how I managed to miss this book since 2010, but I did. It's amazing. Texicans especially should read it.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne (goodreads.com)

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.



S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told.

 

[greysage]

So how many formally female graves have been determined to be male? Have they even tested and researched that aspect?

 

[Melodi]

So how many formally female graves have been determined to be male? Have they even tested and researched that aspect?

They are going back and testing many-many graves both male and female now that testing is relatively easy and inexpensive. A lot of recent archeology, especially since COVID has been reevaluating and retesting older finds as well as using LIDAR technology to locate new and unexcavated sites.

When the first "Scythian Warrior" grave was found with both male and female grave goods, it was right before genetic testing became possible, but I had early internet because I was dating Nightwolf already.

Anyway, some of the (mostly male) archeologists were so convinced the grave couldn't possibly be female (even though it was found exactly where the Ancient Writers said the Amazon's came from) that it had to be a homosexual man.

That's right, it was easier for those mainstream archeologists to accept that an obvious warrior's grave HAD to be male even if it had "his" makeup, jewelry, clothing, and as well as weapons.

It was just about the first body tested and yep, it was a she; since then most of the female warrior graves in this area have both weapons and their "girlie stuff" (as one archeologist put it) with them. Men so far, only have men's grave goods.

As for fighters, Nightwolf said it make perfect sense that the Celts and Norse both tended to have women, warriors because at the time BOTH sexes tended to be much smaller than people are today, especially during the Migration Age (aka Dark Ages) and even into the Viking Age when people actually became smaller and less well nourished.

Nightwolf himself would have been a "standard size" for the time period, and weapons that he could have used at 5'6" and about 130 to 140 pounds could also be used by many women. Not to mention both sexes did historically throw up some really giant people like Six Foot Saxon Warrior "Xena" or guys like Grimson in Iceland whose skull is HUGE and was described as very large during his lifetime.

When most soldiers became men, it was after the invention of really heavy armor again around 1066 and going forward. Weapons got heavier as did the armor needed to protect the wearer, at that point most women dropped out of the profession. Women were also discouraged for religious reasons but the big change was the need for greater body weight and strength.

 

[Dozdoats]

Smaller people and FEWER people. Every capable fighter was needed.

And will be again....

 

[Cardinal]

Stupid woke normalcy bias ....

I don't know how I managed to miss this book since 2010, but I did. It's amazing. Texicans especially should read it.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne (goodreads.com)

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.



S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told.

Read that book when it first came out. Quanah was also a seriously sharp guy, who, after retirement, went on to build a cattle empire.

 

[mikeabn]

Possibly the artifacts were her dowry?

 

[vestige]

A small carbine readily compensates for small stature.

 

[Dozdoats]

Yep. An AR carbine is nigh onto perfect, with some training.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Some of you probably know my story. Both my grandmothers married at 13 and had their first child at 15. My mother married at 16 and had her first (me) at 19. I was born to a population of people who married young and then started a family. Most still preferred their daughters to grow up before marrying but you couldn't/can't always stop young people, especially the hard headed ones that I have as ancestresses. LOL

Societal norms are tricky things. Different in different places and even if the same places different in different families.

It was not at all unusual to have three year olds working the fields and helping with family chores, some and perhaps many independently ... or at least not under immediate supervision. The goal was always survival of both the family and the individual.

It isn't hard at all to see warriors this young. This of the children forced into being warriors even in our modern era ... Africa and even on the streets of the US in gangs.

A lot of the eggheads doing this research are too soft. They are blind to realities of life never having been forced to live it themselves. Too many people living in an ivory tower these days.

 

[summerthyme]

Some of you probably know my story. Both my grandmothers married at 13 and had their first child at 15. My mother married at 16 and had her first (me) at 19. I was born to a population of people who married young and then started a family. Most still preferred their daughters to grow up before marrying but you couldn't/can't always stop young people, especially the hard headed ones that I have as ancestresses. LOL

Societal norms are tricky things. Different in different places and even if the same places different in different families.

It was not at all unusual to have three year olds working the fields and helping with family chores, some and perhaps many independently ... or at least not under immediate supervision. The goal was always survival of both the family and the individual.

It isn't hard at all to see warriors this young. This of the children forced into being warriors even in our modern era ... Africa and even on the streets of the US in gangs.

A lot of the eggheads doing this research are too soft. They are blind to realities of life never having been forced to live it themselves. Too many people living in an ivory tower these days.

Absolutely! You pretty well described our life, which was and is a modern aberration. I turned down a free ride to an Ivy League school to marry the love of my life at 16. Had our first son at 18, and our fourth and last at 25. All four were integral parts of our farm economy, and by the age of ten were capable enough that we were able to leave them in grandma's care with a hired man to come in to milk, and the kids could handle the rest of the chores. They were a LOT more reliable than any hired help, too!

Our sons were *men* by 15. Young men, but both physically and responsibility-wise,, they were men. All three boys were hired by the local highway department at the age of 16... not to flag traffic, but to run the heavy equipment and help with diesel mechanics.

But then, I always had an almost visceral reaction to the phrase "raising children". I always insisted we were raising *adults*.

Summerthyme

 

[Windy Ridge]

Not all women of that time were small. The Swedish side of my family were noted for the number of women who were 5 foot 10 inches to over 6 feet tall.

My Croatian grandmother was not tall but RULED her family. Croatians were originally semi-nomadic herders and farmers who lived near the Scythians. Some of the women warrior burials were very probably Croatian as well as related tribes. Scythians made very bad neighbors so the Croatians and related tribes invaded the northeastern part of the decaying Western Roman Empire. They are still there.

Windy Ridge

 

[Melodi]

Possibly the artifacts were her dowry?

I thought I addressed that, while we can't know for sure in the case of this particular girl because she was so young; there are quite a few women warrior graves from the same area and culture.

As I pointed out before genetic testing the (mostly male) archeologists were so certain they couldn't really be women buried with both weapons and "girlie" stuff that they "decided" those warriors must be homosexuals!

It was easier for them to view these skeletons and mummies, some of whom have traces of battle scars and the proper skeletal development to show hard weapons training, as homosexual or cross-dressing males; than that they were female.

Once the genetic testing showed they were female, (like six-foot-tall Xena in England buried with her armor and weapons) it was admitted that this WAS the area of the world that the Ancient Writers said the Amazon's came from.

Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warfare made it possible for trained women to compete pretty much on an even level with men, at least in terms of weapons and fighting styles.

That didn't mean every woman was a warrior, most probably were not because like game hunting with spears, it is hard to carry a baby on your back onto the battlefield.

But some women obviously DID specialize in warfare, in fact in the Ancient Irish Mythic Cycles, the greatest weapons trainers (mostly of young men) are older women, sometimes Mothers.

Once again, thinking women can't be warriors and every woman with a weapon must have a dowery or "symbolic" meaning is putting a modern view of gender roles on to people in the past.

The other extreme, that "lots" of warriors were women is probably also not the case, except in certain specialized situations like Mary Renault suggested the Amazons might have been - aka a special band of women warriors separated from the rest of society in special ways.