Female Burials with Weapons in the Early Nomadic Kurgans in the Southern Urals (Late 5th to 2nd Centuries BC)

Female Burials with Weapons in the Early Nomadic Kurgans
in the Southern Urals (Late 5th to 2nd Centuries BC)

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.1.099-105

N.А. Berseneva
Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, S. Kovalevskoi 16, Yekaterinburg, 620108, Russia
South Ural State University, Pr. Lenina 76, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russia

An attempt is made to classify, analyze, and interpret female burials with weapons in the graves of early nomads in the Southern Urals, dating to late 5th-2nd centuries BC. In the Early Iron Age, this vast region was a center of the nomadic elite. The sample includes 23 graves with 24 buried individuals at well documented cemeteries. Only individuals for whom skeletal sex indicators are available have been included. Criteria and opinions are revised. Weapons in female burials include mostly quiver sets; whereas daggers, swords, and spearheads are rare. The placement of weapons was the same as in male burials: bladed weapons were placed on the right side, with hilts directed to the right hand, whereas quivers were found mostly on the left side. The remaining funerary items were exactly like in other female burials: there were numerous ornaments, bronze mirrors, spindle whorls, and stone altars. Female burials with weapons were found in kurgans regardless of social status. Apparently, those women represented all social strata, from elite to low-ranking nomads. Nothing indicates the existence of female military units, which, however, does not imply that women took no part in armed conflicts or did not use weapons to protect themselves and their homes.

Keywords: Southern Urals, Early Iron Age, early nomads, kurgans, female burials with weapons, “Amazons”