The Archaeological Evidence In Support of Amazon Existence

 

 

 

 

Amazons, women warriors, frequent in ancient Greek literature, and were always believed to be a myth. However, now archaeologists have found evidence of women skeletons buried with weapons. This suggests that there might be some truth to the myth of the Amazons. After five years of excavating more than 150 burial mounds of the 5th century, Jeannine Davis-Kimball has discovered 50 burial mounds of these warrior women in Pokrovka, Russia.

 

 

 These Sauromatians were nomads that buried their dead here at the beginning ca. 600 B.C. According to Herodotus, the 5th century historian, the Sauromatians were the descendants of the Amazons and the Scythians. When the Greeks defeated the Amazons in battle of Thermodon they took many captives. During their sea voyage the Amazons seized the ship and killed their captors. However, they got caught in a storm which tossed them ashore and brought them face to face with another army, the Scythains. Eventually they made peace with each other and became the Sauromatins. According to Davis-Kimball, "In general, the females were buried with a wider variety and larger quantities of artifacts than males, and seven female graves contained iron swords or daggers, bronze arrowheads, and whetstones to sharpen weapons." However, some scholars have argued the weapons were buried for ritual purposes but the bones that were discovered suggest different story. Davis-Kimball says "The bowed leg bones of one 13- or 14-year old girl attest a life on horseback, and a bent arrowhead found in the body cavity of another women suggest that she had been killed in battle. Though Pokrovka women nomads were not the Amazons of myth because those Amazons lived in the west, Davis-Kimball thinks that these nomads could have inspired the legend. This site in Russia indicates the strong possibility of the existence of Amazons and is the most conclusive evidence that has been found so far. However, there have been other sites in Libya and Thermodon, the suposed home of the Amazons, that also show the possibility the existence of Amazons.

 

 

Bronze arrowheads (1), iron sword (2),

fossilized Gryphaea shells (3), and unworked stone

in shape of Gryphaea shell (4) were found in a young female

warrior's burial. (Jeannine Davis-Kimball)