Excavations of graves within a bronze age necropolis in Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan revealed that women had been buried with weapons such as razor-sharp arrowheads, a bronze dagger and a mace, as well as jewellery.
Archaeologists have concluded that they could have been Amazon women who lived 4,000 years ago. These fearsome women were famed for their male-free society and their prowess on the battlefield, particularly with a bow and arrow.
In Greek legends, the Amazons were feared and formidable women warriors who lived on the edge of the known world. Hercules had to obtain the magic girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyte in one of his 12 labours, and Achilles killed another queen, Penthesilea, only to fall in love with her as her beautiful face emerged from her helmet.
These horseback-riding, bow-wielding nomads, who fought and hunted just like men, have long been shrouded in myth, but archaeologists are discovering increasing evidence that they really did exist.
“It shows that there’s truth behind the myths and legends of ancient Greece," historian Bettany Hughes said.
According to Hughes, some of the skeletons reveal that the women had used bows and arrows extensively.
“Their fingers are warped because they’re using arrows so much. Changes on the finger joints wouldn’t just happen from hunting. That is some sustained, big practice. What’s very exciting is that a lot of the bone evidence is also showing clear evidence of sustained time in the saddle. Women’s pelvises are basically opened up because they’re riding horses. [Their] bones are just shaped by their lifestyle," the historian said.
She visits the mountain village of Khinalig. There has been a settlement there since the bronze age, and some of its 2,000 residents tell her that, in ancient times, their women disguised themselves as men with scarves - stories handed down through their generations.
“They said, ‘all of our grandmothers fought. The men were all away with the herds. The women always used to cover their faces to fight’, which is exactly what the ancient sources said, so that people didn’t know whether they were women or men," the historian said.
Hughes said this evidence was all the more significant when linked to earlier finds. In 2019, the remains of four female warriors buried with arrowheads and spears were found in Russia and, in 2017, Armenian archaeologists unearthed the remains of a woman who appeared to have died from battle injuries, as an arrowhead was buried in her leg. In the early 1990s, the remains of a woman buried with a dagger were found near the Kazakhstan border.
