MADRID: Analysis of an ancient burial site found in southern Spain in 2008 revealed that the deceased was a woman, not a man, as originally believed, reported German news agency (dpa).
Previously, researchers had assumed that the burial was of a man between 17 and 25 years old. The grave dates back to the Copper Age, around 3200 to 2200 BC.
“Images often dominate according to which all leadership positions were occupied by men in the earliest epoch of human history,” said Katharina Rebay-Salisbury of the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) and the University of Vienna.
“With this find, many of our gender stereotypes are thrown overboard.”
The evidence was obtained by means of a special analysis of the tooth enamel, which was developed and carried out in Vienna.
“The result of such an analysis is 99.9% certain,” Rebay-Salisbury explained.
According to the team, the many high-quality grave goods included an elephant tusk, ostrich shells and a dagger with a blade made of rock crystal and an ivory handle decorated with 90 disc-shaped pearls made of mother-of-pearl.
The authors of the study, which appeared in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, were convinced that the fact that such things were given to a woman in her grave shows that leadership positions were possibly already occupied by women in the earliest epoch of human history.
It is possible that the buried woman was an ivory trader or priestess, Rebay-Salisbury speculated. BERNAMA-dpa
