Archaeology breakthrough as earliest ever woman buried with weapons discovered

SH-63 contained the first-known female buried with weapons (Image: Ibolya M. Nepper and Luca Kis via PLOS ONE)

Women being buried with weapons is a popular subject discussed among scholars and the general public. Yet, understanding it has always been difficult as previous studies have made conclusions about female warriors without carrying out the necessary scientific analysis.

Until this remarkable archaeology breakthrough of the first-known female burial with weapons was made.

It was a recent study led by Dr. Balazs Tihanyi and his colleagues, published in PLOS ONE, confirmed the discovery that comes from 10th century Carpathian Basin, Hungary.

The burial which is named Grave no.63 or SH-63 was found in the Sarretudvari-Hizofold cemetery. It contains a large number of graves that have weapons and horseriding equipment and is the biggest 10-century cemetery in Hungary. 

What made this specific burial unqiue, according to Dr. Tihanyi was its grave goods composition.

He went on to explain that male burials usually contained "functional items" such as, simple jewellery, clothing fittings and tools and that their "most distinctive grave goods" were weapons, often archery equipment. While female burials on the other hand would contain jewellery including hair rings, bead necklaces, bracelets and clothing fittings.

Tools such as knives and awls are not something often found.

Dr. Balazs Tihanyi said: "The grave goods found in the burial of SH-63 contained a mix of these characteristics. Compared to other graves in the cemetery, its inventory was relatively simple, including common jewellery and clothing fittings."

SH-63 was discovered along with a silver penannular hair ring, three bell buttons, a string of stone and glass beads, an "armor-piercing" arrowhead, iron parts of a quiver, and an antler bow plate.

The burial contained various artefacts (Image: Zoltan Faur and Luca Kis via PLUS ONE)

The researchers had to carry out a series of analyses including morphological and genetic to confirm that she individual burried was indeed a female and despite the poor preservation of the skeleton creating a challenge, they were able to conclude they were correct, making her the first-known female to be burried in the Carpathian Basin.

Unfortunately they were not able to anthropological analsyes which would have helped the researchers determine an estimation of age at death and the invidual's stature. Additionally, the ability to indentify any "activity-related skeletal changes that could provide insights to lifestyle" was also limited.

However, the team were able to detect signs of three major traumas, changes in joint structures and osteoporosis, a bone disease more common in older women. 

The various joint changes was something that suggested to the team that the individual lived a more active life but doesn't completely conlude she was a warrior. More research is required to find out about her daily life during the 10th century.