ARCHEOLOGY DIG
May 1999
"Did Xena Really Exist?"
The "Warrior Princess" may be a make-believe TV character but one archaeologist suggest that Amazon women like her might actually lave lived. By Stephen Hanks
AIEEEEEYAH! That's the battle cry of Xena, Warrior Princess, the main character on one of America's most popular television shows. The adventures of Xena and her loyal sidekick, Gabrielle, are based on women called Amazons. Thousands of years ago, Greek storytellers told of strong, tall women who loved battle. Most people thought that these women warriors never existed, but a recent discovery suggest they may have.
From 1993 to 1996, archaelogist Jeannine Davis-Kimball excavated 50 ancient burial mounds near the town of Pokrovka, Russia, near the Kazakstan border in Central Asia. Inside some of the 2,400-year-old graves were skeletons of women buried with swords, daggers, and bronze arrowheads.
"These women were warriors," says Davis-Kimball. "A bent arrowhead was found in the body of one woman, suggesting that she had been killed in battle." The bowed leg bones of one teenage girl indicated that she rode horseback and had been trained for combat since childhood.
According to Davis-Kimball, the women of this region lived in tribes, with men and children. In some of the burial mounds, Davis-Kimball found clay or stone altars, bone spoons, bronze mirrors, and seashells. She says that these particular artifacts indicate some of the tribe's women may have been priestesses, who were responsible for the religious and cultural life of the family or clan.
"Our excavations have shown that these females held a unique position in society," says Davis-Kimball. "When their territory was threatened, they took to the saddle, bows and arrows, ready to defend it."
Hmmmm, sounds a lot like our Xena.