 The long-running mystery of a 2,000-year-old burial has been solved – and revealed its occupant was probably a female warrior. The grave on the Isles of Scilly has puzzled archaeologists since it was found in 1999, and it's unique in Iron Age western Europe for containing both a mirror and a sword. In other burials from the same period, swords are usually found with males and mirrors with females, leading to confusion over whether this grave, on the island of Bryher, was the final resting place of a man or a woman. But a new analysis of the burial by Historic England concluded the grave's occupant was a woman – which suggests women were more involved in raids and violence than previously thought, and there could be other hidden female warriors out there. Sarah Stark, human skeletal biologist at Historic England, said: 'Our findings offer an exciting opportunity to re-interpret this important burial. 'They provide evidence of a leading role for a woman in warfare on Iron Age Scilly. 'Although we can never know completely about the symbolism of objects found in graves, the combination of a sword and a mirror suggests this woman had high status within her community and may have played a commanding role in local warfare, organising or leading raids on rival groups. 'This could suggest that female involvement in raiding and other types of violence was more common in Iron Age society than we've previously thought, and it could have laid the foundations from which leaders like Boudicca would later emerge. The Scilly Isles are located off the coast of Cornwall (Picture: Getty Images) The islands are rich with archaeological finds (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto) 'It would be interesting to re-analyse other degraded burials to see if there are more 'hidden' female warriors out there.' It was impossible to determine the skeleton's sex using DNA analysis because the bones had disintegrat){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The long-running mystery of a 2,000-year-old burial has been solved – and revealed its occupant was probably a female warrior.
The grave on the Isles of Scilly has puzzled archaeologists since it was found in 1999, and it’s unique in Iron Age western Europe for containing both a mirror and a sword.
In other burials from the same period, swords are usually found with males and mirrors with females, leading to confusion over whether this grave, on the island of Bryher, was the final resting place of a man or a woman.
But a new analysis of the burial by Historic England concluded the grave’s occupant was a woman – which suggests women were more involved in raids and violence than previously thought, and there could be other hidden female warriors out there.