“Unearthed Warrior Woman in Armenia: Could She Be the Real-Life Inspiration Behind the Legendary Amazons?”
The bones were found at the Bover I necropolis in Lori Province in 2017 and were originally thought to belong to a 20-something woman of high-status in the kingdom. But further examination of the skeleton revealed she was likely much more than a rich member of the elite.
Upon closer inspection, a group of Armenian researchers led by Anahit Khudaverdyan of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia found that the woman bore a muscular frame, similar to those who endure intense physical training.
The muscle attachments of her upper body indicated “considerable work activity,” and her pectoral and deltoid muscles “had been used in flexing and adducting the hand at the shoulder.” The evidence suggests she was likely a trained archer who routinely drew on the strong strings of a bow.
Anahit Khudaverdyan, et alVarious chop marks and wounds on the woman’s body suggest she frequently fought in battle.
The woman’s thigh bones also showed pronounced gluteal muscles, which researchers believe are possibly the result of military training like horseback-riding. In addition to her strong bones, the woman’s skeleton bore multiple injury marks — there was an iron arrowhead embedded in her left knee, and chop marks and stabs on her left hip, right thigh, and her left lower leg.
According to the archaeologists, the amount of injuries on the female corpse “emphasizes the fact that for this Early Armenian female from Bover I, interpersonal violence was an ever-present aspect of life.”
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