Archaeological data woman warriors in Eurasia

Archeological studies in recent decades in some areas of Eastern Europe and in the nearby territories of Asia provide essential information about women warriors in antiquity. The material evidence of their existence, way of life, traditions and customs is constantly increasing and can be espeshally found in burials of female warriors. Thanks to them, we can get a glimpse into the lifestyle of these women who belonged to the so-called from the ancient Greeks ‘barbarian tribes’. Most of the discovered burials are located in the area of present-day Ukraine and parts of Russia, which coincides with the given location of the mythical amazons (warrior women) by Pomponius Mela MELA 1998, as well as the location given to the Sauromatians by Herodotus Herodotus tell the story of how part of the amazons mixed with the Schytians thus forming the Sauromatians ХЕРОДОТ 1982. In the 20th century alone, at least 112 graves of women who were buried with weapons were found in the area between the Don and Danube rivers. Almost 70% of them belonged to women that were between 16 and 30 years old at the time of their death. In the next few pages I will examen some of the more interesting graves that have been described and published over the years, starting from west to east. Attachment 1. Before going into detail about the burials, I think we should examine how the nomadic tribes of the area (Sauromatians, Sarmatians and Scythians) treated their dead. The people of these lands often migrated due to the harsh climate in the area. Due to the low temperatures in winter, the ground froze and it was impossible to make a kurgan (birial mound) In foreign-language literature, especially Russian, the term "kurgan" is primarly used for a burial mound. They were used among Indo-European peoples. – that's why burials took place only in the summer LORGE 2011. When someone died in winter or during migration, the tribes tried to preserve the body as much as possible until summer. The first step was a ceremonial washing of the body, after which most likely some of the muscles and organs were removed, and various herbs and spices were placed in their place and after that they were sewn up with horsehair. There is a high probability that the dead were covered with wax or honey to better preserve them over time This was a common practice among many peoples in the first millennium BC, including the Scythians.. The next step is wrapping the bodies in a felt blanket, tied with yarn and placed in wood so they can be protected from predators in the winter. With the onset of summer, nomads moved to places with a favorable summer climate and buried the bodies of the dead in existing mounds or erected new ones. The size of the mound depends on the status of the burial - the royal ones reach a height of up to 30m and a diameter of up to a 100m. The mounds of the middle class are more modest in size, usually up to 20m in diameter and about 2-3m high. The material from which they are built depends on which part of the steppes they are located - in places with stones, their structure is a row of stones followed by a row of soil. In places where there are no rocks available, the tombs are built of earth only DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002. The majority of burials considered in this work will be in mounds of the second type. The first step in the construction was the clearing of the ground and the formation of a circle, the center of which was about 2m deep. Catacombs (tunnels with a length of 1.50-2.00m) are sometimes found, which extend from one end of the kurgan to its center. In other cases, horizontal niches were excavated along the sides of the mound core, which served for burials. After all the rooms were built, the body could be laid to rest, placed in a wooden sarcophagus plastered with clay, or simply wrapped in a felt blanket. In both cases the deceased was placed on his back For a schematic image of a kurgan see attachment 2. The next step is to leave items that will be useful to the deceased in their afterlife, from glass beads and seashells to weapons and horses. When everything is in place and the body is protected from the sliding ground, everything is filled with earth until a hill is formed DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002. 2.1. Burials of women warriors in Greece The first burial I will look at does not fit in with the others geographically as it is located in Vergina, in what is now northern Greece. In one of the mounds, dated from the 4th century BC, in the main grave, the remains of a man and a woman were found, wrapped in purple-gold cloth, with jewelry, armor and weapons found next to them. Vergina was used as a ceremonial burial ground of the most famous Macedonian dynasty - the Argeads. There are various theories as to whose tomb it is, including that it may be that of Philip II of Macedon. What I will look at is not the main grave, but the female remaints found in the vestibule and their associated quiver (Scythian style) with seventy-four arrows (three types), a fragment of a bow, two iron spearheads, an Illyrian fibula and gilt plates. The bow that was found is not Macedonian, and the quiver and arrows correspond to those found in Scythian burials of the same period. There are several theories as to who is buried there: it could be Meda, the wife of Philip II of Macedon (a Getic princess from Thrace); according to others it is Kina (Kinana), the half-sister of Alexander III of Macedon, who was raised as a hunter by her Illyrian mother, Avdata, daughter of Bardalis, king of Dardania (assumed the name Eurydice after her wedding); and according to others, it could be Kina's daughter - Adea MAYOR 2014. Even if it doesn't belong to any of the princesses, the tomb is proof enough that a woman warrior lived there, in Macedonia, just a few steps away from the Greek world. 2.2. Burials of women warriors in Ukraine The first grave in Ukraine, which I will examine, is located near Akerman (Belgrade, Belgorod), in the southern part of the country, where at the end of the 20th century, during excavations in Mound No.16, a female skeleton was discovered. Next to the body were found bronze and silver bracelets, a bronze mirror, a necklace of glass beads, a loom disk, and a wooden vessel that was used to place ritual food for the afterlife. In addition to these finds, which are typical of a female grave, next to the skeleton were also found typical finds of male burials: twenty bronze arrowheads, two spearheads, a large battle belt covered with iron plates. Examination of the remains revealed several skull wounds that had healed during her lifetime, as well as a bronze arrowhead in her knee GULIAEV 2003, 114-115. The tomb dates back to the time of the Scythians. The weapons found, as well as the traces on the bones, indicate that she took part in battles. The ornaments found withing the grave tell us that she was not only a warrior, but also led what was considered a normal life for a woman, at least according to ancient understandings. In the western part of Ukraine, near the city of Pokrov, another grave was found in Mound No.13, which contained the remains of a woman with a bronze arrowhead in her knee. Next to her were found seven bronze arrowheads, an iron spear, as well as a bronze mirror which was typical of female burials, a loom disk and fragments of several ornaments. Next to her burial there are two more that belong to children - a boy aged 7-10 and a newborn GULIAEV 2003, 115. It cannot be said for sure whether these were her children, but the fact that they were buried next to her , help us concur that women in this tribe took an active part in looking after the children. One of the more interesting burials in the district belongs to a girl aged 7-10, who was buried with an iron armor and two spearheads. According to Elene Fialko, who examens and describes burials in the are, this is unique not only for child burials, but also for female burials. It is very rare to find any protective gear, with only three battle belts with bronze and iron plates found in excavations until 1991 GULIAEV 2003, 115. In the 1980s during excavations in the region of Chortomlyk, Ukraine, Renate Rohl and her team were able to examine a total of fifty-three burial mounds dating from the 4th century BC, of which six belonged to female warriors HINDS 2010, five of which are described. „One of them was a young woman [buried] with weapons, a bow, several arrowheads, and a small child lying in her arms. The two fingers of her right hand, which were often used to draw the bow, showed clear signs of use WILDE 1999...” There is another grave from this group, located in Mound No.13, in which, in addition to the remains of a 20-year-old woman, those of a small child were also found, as well as arrowheads. A young woman was discovered in Mound No.11, buried with jewelry and arrowheads. Two of the fingers on her hand show wear from the use of a bow, similar to the burial described above. During the excavation of Mound No.30, a female skeleton was unearthed, and next to it, a large shield, sling weights, a mirror, pearls, as well as red and white pigments were discovered. At mound No.9, an arrowhead was found in the spine of the buried woman, and next to it a long, iron pike blade, eighteen different arrowheads, knives, jewelry, and a mirror MAYOR 2014. Again we see burials that mix both typically female and typically male ritual practices. We also see two graves with burials of children. According to Renate Rohl, women in Scythia entered into combat only in defense HINDS 2010. With the frequent absence of men and the constant threat of raids, we can imagine why women had to defend themselves. Elena Fialko also describes many burials of warrior women in the area between the Dnieper and Don rivers, one of them being different and unique. This is Mound No.5 near the village of Zelyonoe, where the skeletons of three young girls aged between 10-15 years were found, buried with plate armor, a helmet, a spear, a light spear, a shield, arrows, sling stones, necklaces and mirrors MAYOR 2014. This grave, as well as the above mentioned 7-10 year old child, show that girls were trained to fight from a young age and that they were already ready to go to the battlefield if needed. In the Mamai Mountain Cemetery, 317 warrior graves have been unearthed by 2014, of which twelve are known for certain to have belonged to women, ranging in age from 16-60. During excavations in the same area in 2018, another grave of a female warrior was discovered, dating from the 5th - 4th centuries BC. TANN 2018 In the grave were found: a perfume bottle, a bronze mirror Look at attachment 3 and bronze arrowheads Look at attachment 4 under her left elbow Look at attachment 5. According to the finds in Mamai Mountain, from the thirty-four seasons of excavations carried out so far, 1/3 of the population took part in the army, of which 20% were women MAIMAI-GORA 2018. In Melitopol, Ukraine, in 1954 during excavations A.I. Terenozhkin came across a female burial with many gold objects, dated to the 4th century BC. In a cache next to the main grave were found: a typical Scythian quiver and arrows covered in gold leaf with stamped scenes of animal fights and those from the life of Achilles PIOTROVSKY 2015, 30. A female burial from the 6th century BC was discovered at the northern end of the Dnieper River. Next to the body were found: a bracelet of fox teeth and gold earrings, a bronze mirror, ninety-two arrows and an iron spearhead. The body of a newborn was also found next to her. MAYOR 2014 A similar grave was found near the village of Bobritsa (Kiev region), dated to the 4th century BC. During the excavations were found: the skeletons of a woman, a child and a horse, as well as a necklace of pearls, agate, topaz, amber, glass beads, twenty-one arrows in a quiver of wood and leather MAYOR 2014. In Kholodniy Yar, on the west bank of the Tyasmin River, during excavations in 1988. WILDE 1999 a grave of a female warrior from the 4th century BC was discovered MAYOR 2014. She was buried with silver earrings, a necklace of bone and glass beads, a bronze bracelet, a bronze mirror, a clay loom weight, iron plates Used as food during rituals connected to the afterlife, a colorful quiver of wood and leather, forty-seven bronze arrowheads, two iron knives, and two sling stones were found near her head. Another skeleton was found at her feet, belonging to a young boy of about 18, buried with only an iron ring, two small bronze bells, and fragments of jewelry WILDE 1999. In the area where the grave was found, 40 female warrior mounds were discovered HINDS 2010, but unfortunately they were not described in detail. In the late 20th century, when such graves were excavated, they were not properly described, and any grave with weapons was assumed to belong to a man. Renat Roll, during her excavations as a student in the 60s, began to notice that in some of the mounds in which they found weapons, they also found typically female attributes. Namely, she began to review old discoveries and, with the help of modern technologies, managed to prove that the remains in these graves belonged to women, and not to men, as it was believed until then WILDE 1999. One of the richest burials of a female warrior is located near the village of Akimova, above the Sea of Azov and is of a young girl between the ages of 22 and 25, whose body was laid on her back, facing north. Under and around her head were found 575 colored glass beads, gold and silver rings on her hands and one gold earring next to her body. Sixty gold beads, forty-six gold buttons, twenty-eight gold plates with various images: a deer, a woman's head, the head of Medusa; Greek style black vase, lead loom weight, nine arrowheads and two blade fragments WILDE 1999. Another grave of a 25-year-old girl was discovered nearby. She was sent to the afterlife with a bronze bracelet on her right hand and a bronze mirror, with a black bowl next to her left hand; metal spear and other light spear which is very rarely found; gold earrings, a metal knife, a lead loom weight, three bronze arrowheads and a stone in the corner of the grave, which was most likely used to heat water. In the same area, a burial was found of a woman lying on her back with her legs bent so that her left leg was out to the side. Nine bronze arrowheads, twenty glass beads and three limestone pendants were also found with her WILDE 1999. 2.3. Burials of women warriors in Russian Federation The next group of graves is located in the area from Voronezh to Rostov-on-Don, near the villages of Sladkovsky and Kakhovka, and is called the Elizabethan group. During an expedition in 1967, a total of thirty-one burials of women warriors were discovered, seven of them dating from the 5th century. BC, and twenty-four from 4th century BC. One of the more interesting graves of the first group is grave 2, mound No.30, where a 40-year-old woman was found, and next to her: a metal spearhead, bronze and iron arrowheads, an iron sword, two bronze bracelets, a necklace of glass and bronze beads, bronze mirror, clay loom weight, Greek amphora, bowl and food for the afterlife - calf and iron knife. In Mound №4, from the 4th century BC, a large square grave, 5 x 5m, was unearthed, and inside are the remains of seven people; a well-preserved grave of a female warrior can be seen, next to her are found: a long iron sword, a spearhead and iron arrowheads; by her head - a large Greek amphora, part of a sheep's skeleton, an iron knife, a bronze mirror, gold earrings and a necklace GULIAEV 2003, 116-117. During excavations in the district of the village of Novaya Chigla, Voronezh region, in 2012, 18 burial mounds were found, dated from II-IV c. BC: four male burials, six child burials and eight female burials, with two of the females buried with weapons HINDS 2010. During the period 1993 - 2001, the Archaeological Institute in Moscow conducted excavations near the villages of Ternovie and Kolbina, about 90 km from Voronezh, under the name "Podutan", during which they discovered five graves of female warriors. GULIAEV 2003, 117 The first is in Mound №6, dated to the end of the 5th - the beginning of the 4th century BC, with a height of 1.2 m and a diameter of 25 m. The foundations were laid on a large wooden platform built directly on the ground, and although treasure hunters to have desecrated the grave and the remains of a young woman, about 20-25 years old, and took most of the valuables, they were still found: two iron spearheads, over 30 bronze arrowheads of the Scythian type, a bronze mirror, two gold earrings, seven gold beads and several glass pendants. Mound №5 dates from the IV century BC. and is 1 m high and 45 m in diameter. It is surrounded by a circular moat, in the center there is a large grave - 6 x 6 m, with a corridor - 7 m long and 1 m wide, which crosses the mound to the center from the southeast end, with a complete built system of wooden walls and a flat wooden ceiling of twenty beams MILLER 2015. Ransacked shortly after the burial, it contained: part of a skull with a preserved jaw, several bronze and iron arrowheads and a dozen gold, stamped plates. A stone oval altar 0.80 m long was found in the northern part of the dyke. The corridor survived the raids and in it were found: burial food consisting of horse meat and an iron knife, three Scythian-style clay pots and two ceramic ritual cups. According to the anthropological analysis carried out on the remains found, the grave belonged to a woman between 20-25 years old GULIAEV 2003, 117. Mound №8 also dates from the 4th century BC, but is significantly smaller, with a height of 0.30 m and a diameter of 25 m, and in very poor condition. In the center was found a grave, 4x4 m, there were vertical beams on the walls, and the ceiling was supported by nine columns, looted already in antiquity. On the floor were found: remains of a 20-year-old woman, gold ornaments with the image of a griffin, several gold plates, two broken clay vessels, an iron arrowhead and a bone comb with the image of a lion or leopard Look at attachment 6. Mound No. 10, 4th century BC, with a height of 0.40 m and a diameter of 28 m, is also surrounded by a moat, and in its center there is a grave measuring 4.3 x 3.2 m. The walls and ceiling were built of wooden beams, and nine columns supported the ceiling. Looted in antiquity, we have reached: a skeleton of a 25-year-old woman, two gold plates with the image of a winged griffin with an eagle's head, a clay weight for a loom, fragments of a clay vessel, an iron knife and an iron arrowhead. The last mound - No. 12, also dates from the IV century BC and has a height of 0.75 m and a diameter of 30 m. In the middle is a grave, 4 x 4 m, looted since antiquity, in which the displaced bones of 30 year old woman, and next to her two small gold plates, an iron arrowhead and part of a Greek wine cup GULIAEV 2003, 118-119. Unfortunately, most of the graves were looted, but considering the finds in the surrounding area from the same time and what was found in the described mounds, it can be concluded that the burials in question belonged to warrior women. Elena Fialko draws a conclusion based on the discoveries in the area that I have examined so far, using the information available up to 1991 concerning the 112 graves. „Weapons consist of various types of arrowheads, almost all bronze, as well as iron spearheads. Swords are very few in number and a battle ax has never [been found].“ ФИАЛКО 1991, 4-18 During the construction of the airport near Rostov-on-Don in 2015, the grave of a female warrior of Sarmatian origin was unearthed in a mound with a depth of 4 m. She was buried with over a hundred arrowheads, gold and silver jewelry (earrings Look at attachment 7, bracelets, necklace), a mirror, gold dishes, as well as a military collar for a horse Look at attachment 8. Her clothes are richly decorated with gold plates, beads and ornaments. Another burial of a man was found in the same mound, but it had been looted and almost nothing remained except fragments of pottery. The burial dates back to the 1st century BC. – 1st century AD and believed to belong to a high-ranking family in the community STEWART 2015 . Pokrovka is located in the southern part of Russia, just above the border with Kazakhstan, on the left bank of the Ilek River. In 1990, exploratory excavations began there, and in 1991, a Russian-American expedition led by Leonid Yablonsky and Janine Davis-Kimble began, with the last season being in 1995. They managed to uncover a total of thirteen necropolises. The graves found in Pokrovka are from the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. and belong to the Sauro-Sarmatians Two of the nomadic tribes that lived in these lands. Unlike the royal mounds, these belonged to the middle class, commoners and chiefs. Although the main graves were looted both in antiquity and in the present day, the more impersonal and impoverished graves were passed over by thieves and treasure hunters, and thanks to this we can today understand more about the life of nomadic tribes by examining the artefacts found DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002. I will examine the excavations at Pokrovka chronologically, starting with the discoveries between 1990-1992, during which a total of 50 skeletons were examined, from 39 burials, 8 barrows, part of cemeteries 2 and 8 LORGE 2011. The majority of the remains (28) belong to children whose gender has yet to be determined through DNA analysis. Of the nine female burials found, four contained weapons, one of which contained more weapons than the majority of male graves LORGE 2011. Of the thirteen male burials found, eight were with weapons and two with whetstones (which may also be associated with a military grave) LORGE 2011. If we look statistically at the data, it would follow that 44% of women's graves belonged to wars, while for men they are 77% LORGE 2011. Jennifer Rose Lorge, who produces these statistics and research, emphasizes that the base is too small to point to specific results LORGE 2011. However, it manages to orient us in the daily life of the Sauromatians and Sarmatians and shows us that women also took an active part during battles. As can be seen, still the main combat function (3/4 of the burials are with weapons) belonged to men, but in Pokrovka we see an atypical element - not a single baby was found in any female burial, but at the expense of these are a few found in male ones: In mound №2, grave 2, the remains of a 20-40 year old man, a 15 year old youth (gender not determined) and a baby were found. In mound №2, grave 3 there is a skeleton of a 35-45 year old man and a 7 year old child Look at attachment 9. In mound No. 5, grave 1, there is a skeleton of an older man, 50-55 years old, and the body of a child is located at his feet. The case of the common grave in mound #6, grave 3, where remains of both sexes were found, is interesting. Arrowheads, beads and an iron knife were found next to the woman's body, and two weaving discs were found next to the man's body LORGE 2011. It is not clear why the children were buried with the men - whether they were their relatives or their nannies. Until DNA analysis is done, we have no way of knowing their relationship, but the lack of any weapons in these burials, in my opinion, indicates that these men were effeminate. “ Moreover, there are many eunuchs among the Scythians who engage in feminine activities and speak like women. Such people are called effeminate....But I will explain how I think the disease came about. From the long riding on the horses, the blood runs down and collects in their legs, which always hang under their horses.; then they go numb and start to lose flexibility in the hips… They are treated as follows: when they feel the disease, they open the vein behind one of their ears, and when the blood flows out, they sleep, after which they wake up, some in good health, some not. It seems to me that the semen is affected by this treatment, because there are veins behind the ears which, if cut, produce impotence; now, those veins look cut. Such men, after they go to a woman and cannot copulate with her, at first do not think so, but remain silent; but after second, third and more attempts they still fail, they decide that somehow they have offended the God who made them sick, put on women's clothes, prepare for effeminism, play the part of a woman and work the same as women.“ HIPPOCARTES 1994 /Hippocrates, "On Air, Waters, and Places"/ If we assume that the men found in the examined burials with children were effeminate, then this explains why they were buried with the children, as well as why any weaponry is missing. The most interesting among the female graves in Pokrovka was discovered in the summer of 1994 and belonged to a warrior priestess Look at attachment 10. The head is oriented to the east, which helps to date the burial to Sarmatian times; a quiver made of leather and wood was found, along with 30 arrowheads, typical of the 4th - 3rd centuries BC, which confirms its origin. Its age was estimated on the spot - 13-14 years old. DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002 In addition to the arrows and the quiver, an iron knife, an amulet around her neck, a silver arrowhead placed in a leather bag were also found in the grave. Another amulet, a 15 cm tusk Look at attacment 11, two seashells, as well as a pink translucent stone of a similar shape DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002. The burial was quite rich, indicating that the young girl's status in society was quite high. Not only was she on alert, but she was also able to perform various rituals. Janine Davies-Campbell tallies up the total of 182 skeletons found. Of the men: 94% were buried with bronze and iron arrowheads, swords and knives; 3% were buried with only a few clay vessels; 3% were buried with children. Female burials are divided into three main categories, the largest among which is that of women of the heart, to which as many as 75% fall. These are the women who played a typically female role in society, and were most often buried with clay wreaths (these were also found in other burials), bronze spiral earrings, colored beads, stones and glass. Although they were trained to fight from an early age, after birth women most likely put their warrior nature aside and indulged in feminine pursuits. Female warriors were the next largest category at 15% of burials, including burials with weapons and armor. In the next group of priestesses are 7% of women. They are characterized by the presence of stone altars, bronze mirrors, shells. The last 3% are a mixed type between warrior women and priestesses - warrior priestesses DAVIS-KIMBALL 2002, as with the last burial I examined. If we try to summarize the data from the excavations at Pokrovka, we will see that, for the most part, the nomads observed their gender-typical duties – most men were warriors, and most women were housewives. This does not change the undeniable presence of women who have engaged in military work. The low rate against the hosts can be explained by the words of Hippocrates: „Their women ride horses, use bows and throw spears from their horses, and fight their enemies while virgins; they remain virgins until they have killed three enemies, nor have intercourse with men until they have sacrificed as is lawful. She who takes a husband gives up riding unless she has to“ HIPPOCARTES 1994 /Hippocrates, "On Air, Waters, and Places"/ In 2015, while replacing pipes in Altai, Russia, excavators accidentally destroyed part of a mound. Part of the remains of a 16-20-year-old woman, horse bones, beads, wooden gidurs covered with gold leaf (which preserved the wood), bronze horse collar decorations and stone arrowheads were found in the grave Look at attachment 12. Unfortunately, the grave was dug up in antiquity, but taking into account its size (the mound is 8-10 m in diameter, and the grave 2x2 m), Dr. Oinoshev, who conducted the excavations, concluded that the burial belonged to a girl from the wealthy class LIESOWSKA 2015. This is the only female military burial I encountered during my research where the arrowheads are made of stone. 2.4. Burials of women warriors in Gerogia During excavations in 1927 on the territory of ancient Colchis, near the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, the grave of what are considered to be the oldest remains of three female warriors was discovered. The most famous among them was only 1.44 m tall and was 30-40 years old when she died, around 1000 BC. She was buried in a seated position with a bronze sword on her knees and an iron knife and spear at her feet; a horse's jaw, rings, an awl, two ceramic bowls and a white-red necklace were also found. On the left side of her skull is a mark from an ax blow that began to heal during her lifetime but ultimately most likely led to her death Look at attacment 13 (снимка от амазонкитестр 70) !!!. The second burial is of a young woman with an arrowhead in her skull, and the third belongs to a woman with several lion or leopard claws found near her right hand MAYOR 2014. These women went hunting, as evidenced by the hunting trophy found in the form of wild animal claws, and if the arrow in the skull of one can be explained by a hunting accident, the situation is not the same in the main burial. The head wound could theoretically also be the result of an accident, but I think that despite the presence of several military paraphernalia that could have been used during hunting (the knife and the spear), the sword cannot be so easily attributed for hunting weapons. 2.5. Burials of women warriors in Azerbaijan In 2004, excavations were carried out under the auspices of the Science Institute of Azerbaijan, in Ordubad District, Nakhchivan Autonomous Region, where a large military cemetery was located, and surprisingly, it turned out that at least two of the skeletons definitely belonged to women ATESHI 2011 – those from mound #18 and burial #6 in mound #6 at Plovdagh II Look at attachment 14. „Fortunately, the thick land layer over thegrave preserved it significantly. At the same time, a solid clay layer preserved manyitems and goods (quiver, the arrow bodies, helmets, and some beads) in good con-dition. A skeleton of a woman and a child was found 50-60 centimeters below thecover stones of the grave. The ribs andside bones of the child’s skeleton are de-composed. The bones of the woman’s skeleton are relatively well-preserved. Thewoman was buried over the right side and the child over the left side. Their headslay towards the East and their bodies are half bent. The child is in the arms of thewoman..... A quiver over the woman’s skele-ton was found in barrow #6. Its lower sidelies on the left pelvis bone of the woman and the upper side on the right shoulder. It is made of leather. According to the de-cayed wood layer and the traces of decomposed leather it was possible to determinethe measurements of the quiver, while traces on thelayer of clay allow us to deter-mine the length of the arrow shafts. The quiver is 60 centimeters long and is 11 cen-timeters wide (with 0.8 centimeters diameter It is decorated with flat, oblong buttons, and with a thin and narrow bronze layer with quadratic holes on the sides.The length of the traces of the arrow shafts are 45-50 centimeters and diameter is0.8-1.0 centimeters Eight bronze pins, two pieces of carved bronze decoration, together with a series of beads, earrings, bracelets etc. were discovered onthe back of the skull and the rightside of the chest of the woman.” / Behlul Ibrahimli PhD, in charge of the archaeological site / ATESHI 2011 Many male warrior graves have also been unearthed at the site, with several differences between theirs and the female ones: while women are buried on their right side, men are buried on their left; sacrificial animals, such as sheep and goats, are also found in male burials, while none were found in female burials; decorations were found only in female burials, none were found in male burials. On the territory of today's Azerbaijan, more graves of female warriors have been found, such as those discovered by the Russian archaeologist I.I. Meshchaninov, who in 1926 discovered a group of graves of women buried in wooden chests, also containing weapons ATESHI 2011. In several places it is claimed that graves of female warriors have been found in the regions of Azerbaijan and Georgia, but they have not been described. Looking for information about the burials in question, which are simply noted, while visiting the museums in Baku and Tbilisi, it turned out that they did not have any information on the matter. During my research whilelist in Baku I was told by locals that a large part of what was found in the 20th century did not reach theirlocal museums at all, but was sent directly to Russia or St. Petersburg, and things were often lost on the way. For this reason, I cannot consider graves that are only on paper, without any explanation or exact location, for the purposes of this work. For this I will use the information only from the described above-mentioned finds. 2.6. Burials of women warriors in Iran In a 2004 interview, Iranian archaeologist Alireza Nobari, who was studying 109 war graves at an ancient site near the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, indicated that at least one of the graves belonged to a woman. At first it was thought that all the graves were of men because of the weapons found in them, but after DNA analysis it turns out that one of the graves, in which an iron sword was found, was actually a woman. Plans have been made to examine them through DNA from the graves MAYOR 2017, but no further information has been released on the matter. Although female military burials are fewer than male burials, there was hardly just one female warrior; there is a high probability that some of the remaining graves also belonged to women. 2.7. Burials of women warriors in Kazakhstan In 2015, during excavations in southern Kazakhstan TELEPRAPH 2015, archaeologists come across the first burial of a female warrior discovered in the country. It is dated between the 11th and 4th centuries BC, and contains a well-preserved skeleton of a woman, buried with several arrows, a small knife by her right hand and a sword by her left Look at attachment 15; well made bowls and cups NCAN 2015. It is assumed that she was part of the Sarmatian tribe DVORSKY 2015, which would date the grave with greater accuracy, somewhere around the V-IV c. BC From everything we know about the graves of warrior women discussed so far, I assume that the ritual described by Hippocrates above in the text did exist and explains why a large proportion of the warrior burials found belong to young women. Lyubov Klochko, a costume specialist at the National Museum in Ukraine, has researched over 300 female Scythian burials and reconstructed typical female clothing Look at atachment 16. While examining the mounds, she notices that there are many graves with only one earring found - 23%. En masse, these graves belonged either to young women, or to the very elderly, or to those buried with weapons. Her theory is that one earring symbolizes that a woman has not entered into her full role in society, that is, not raising children. The young women have not yet killed enough opponents, the old men are too old to bear children, and the wars have chosen for one reason or another to continue fighting WILDE 1999. I agree that this was a practice, but of some of the Scythian tribes. Such burials are widely found in today's Ukraine and eastern Russia, but not in other places where there are graves of women warriors. It is striking that in women's graves arrowheads are mostly found, followed by spears and knives and very rarely heavier weapons. The bow was the preferred weapon of Scythian women. The reason for this is that using it does not require much strength, but patience. The typical Scythian bow is reflex, assembled from a single piece of wood, the ends of which are reinforced by coiling rope, glue and plates of bone; there are reports that they also used arrows smeared with poison (snake) ROLLE 1989. With the necessary training we know Scythian children received, regardless of their gender, the light bow and spear would have made ideal weapons to be used while riding. Nomadic tribes spent most of their daily lives on their horses and relied on them for their survival. They used them for transport, for food, drank their milk and, if necessary, their blood. They were trained to ride from birth, allowing them to ride effortlessly, often even unharnessing their horses and galloping with their hands free, allowing them to use them for shooting. According to some theories, it was the nomadic tribes that the Greeks found around the Black Sea that inspired the myth of the centaur - a creature with the body of a horse, the torso and head of a man CUNLIFFE 2001. Swords, axes and other heavy weapons were not found in the majority of women's military burials, indicating that their strength was in ranged combat rather than close combat. Lynn Webster Wilde explains this with the inherent structure and capabilities of both sexes. Males are generally bigger and stronger, have no problem swinging heavy weapons in close combat, and have more stability. Women, on the other hand, are more flexible and relaxed, which can help them aim more accurately, as well as allowing them to move with ease on their horses. WILDE 1999. 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