“Unearthed Warrior Woman in Armenia: Could She Be the Real-Life Inspiration Behind the Legendary Amazons?”
Furthermore, scientists found at least two separate cut wounds caused by different weapons – likely a hatchet and a sword – around the time of her death. This connotes she was attacked by more than one person, similar to the conditions during a battlefield fight.
Based on all this evidence, researchers of the study believe the woman was a professionally trained archer who died in battle. Judging by the offerings in her grave, she was buried as a high-ranking individual.
It’s a remarkable discovery given very few burials of the culture’s women warriors have been found so far, despite previous evidence that showed both men and women fought in battle.
The people of the Kingdom of Urartu used arrows and rode on horseback to hunt, but they also used the same arrowheads as weapons against intruders during battle. In fact, the kings likely fought their enemies alongside their wives.
The ubiquity in which women were involved in the Urartu’s wars has led the study’s researchers to hypothesize that the women warriors of the kingdom may have inspired the Amazons depicted in ancient Greek arts and literature.
Greek historians like Herodotus, Plato, and Strabo wrote about the Amazon women, who were said to reside up in the Caucasus Mountains — a territory not far from modern-day Armenia. The new study was published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.
Archaeologists have found evidence of women warriors in other ancient cultures, not just Armenian. Researchers are identifying more women fighters in recent years than ever before, dispelling the patriarchal myth that men were the only ones who led and fought courageously in battles during ancient times.
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