Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (1) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.1.099-105

Annotation:  Fossil Bone Implements in the Industry of the Early Paleolithic Site Bogatyri/ Sinyaya Balka (Taman Paleoenvironmental Conditions of Neanderthal Habitation in the Altai: Chagyrskaya and Okladnikov Cav Komudvany—a Final Paleolithic Site in the Lower Ob Valley: Geomorphology, Paleontology, Archaeology On the Cultural Geography of the Eastern Caucasus and Southern Caspian in the Mesolithic Ornaments Made from Unio Shells in a Neolithic Burial at Ust-Aleika-5, Barnaul, Southwestern Siberia The Specifics of Japanese Terms Referring to the Jomon Period, Based on Publications by Yamanouchi S A New Andronovo (Fedorovka) Cemetery in the Eastern Irtysh Basin Stone Tools from an Island in Berd Bay, Novosibirsk Reservoir Metal Celts from the Little Sea Coast of Lake Baikal A Group of Large Kurgans in the Suusamyr Valley, Kyrgyzstan Female Burials with Weapons in the Early Nomadic Kurgans in the Southern Urals (Late 5th to 2nd Cent The Chemical Analysis of Glass Samples from Roman Era Cemeteries in the Crimean Piedmont A Set of Clothing Items from the Iyus Hoard Monumental Wooden Statues from the Ust-Voikary Fortifi ed Settlement, Northwestern Siberia: A Multid The Aul-Koshkul-1 Cemetery in the Baraba Forest-Steppe: Findings of a Multidisciplinary Study Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis Recorded in Archaeological Samples: Geographical Distribution and Predis   

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

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"