homehome Home chatchat Notifications


A 5000 year-old male leader in Copper Age Spain turns out to be a woman. She was the most powerful leader in the region

Skeleton discovered in a tomb had been wrongly identified as a man.

Fermin Koop
July 11, 2023 @ 3:22 pm

share Share

The highest-status individual in ancient Copper Age society in Spain was a woman and not a man as previously thought. Since their discovery in 2008, the remains of an individual buried in a tomb in the Iberian Peninsula between 3,200 and 2,200 years ago were thought to belong to a man. However, a new study showed this person was a woman.

depiction of copper age
Artist’s recreation drawing of The Ivory Lady. Image credits: Miriam Lucianez Trivino

Since discovered in 2008, the remains of an individual buried in a tomb in the Iberian Peninsula between 3,200 and 2,200 years ago were thought to belong to a man. This was because of an analysis of the pelvis and the fact it was a single occupancy burial site and that it was filled with valuable items, such as ivory tusks and a crystal dagger.

The researchers back then called the man “Ivory Merchant” and believed he had a high position in Copper Age society in Spain. However, a new study is now suggesting the “Ivory Merchant” was in fact the “Ivory Lady.” Leonardo García Sanjuan, one of the researchers, told Reuters she was “the most prominent person” that lived in that period.

Roberto Risch, an archaeologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, not involved in the study, told Science that the findings confirm that women had authority and prestige in the Copper Age, something many previously suspected. This new perspective “fits much better with our understanding of the Copper Age,” Risch added.

Debunking previous findings

The woman’s tomb was first discovered in Valencia on Spain’s southeastern coast. The area was a hub for trade and exchange of information during the Copper Age. “This site was important and was the largest civilization site in Iberia,” García Sanjuan told Live Science. “It was a central gathering that connected people from afar”

archaeological findings
The main artifacts deposited around the body in the tomb. Image credits: Miriam Lucianez Trivino.

As the skeleton’s pelvic region wasn’t well preserved, the researchers used a relatively new method that studies the enamel-forming protein amelogenin. Male and female sex chromosomes possess distinct variations of the gene that produces the protein. The team analyzed the elite individual’s teeth and confirmed that it was a woman.

The skeleton suggests she was 17 to 25 years old when she died. Archaeologists believe social status in society wasn’t determined by birth, as no infants were found buried with valuable artefacts. This absence then suggests that the position held by the Ivory Lady was likely attained through their charisma and accomplishments.

While not much is known about her, the researchers believe she was likely the highest-ranked person in this specific society. They found chemical traces of wine, cannabis and cinnabar (a form of mercury) near her body, which suggests she participated in religious rituals. The isotopes in her bones also indicate that she mostly lived locally.

“Neither in Valencia nor in the whole of the Iberian Cooper Age has any other grave been found which remotely compares in material wealth and sophistication to” the grave of the Ivory Lady,” the researchers wrote in their paper. “These results raise entirely new questions regarding the nature of early forms of political leadership.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

share Share

Researchers Turn 'Moon Dust' Into Solar Panels That Could Power Future Space Cities

"Moonglass" could one day keep the lights on.

Ford Pinto used to be the classic example of a dangerous car. The Cybertruck is worse

Is the Cybertruck bound to be worse than the infamous Pinto?

Archaeologists Find Neanderthal Stone Tool Technology in China

A surprising cache of stone tools unearthed in China closely resembles Neanderthal tech from Ice Age Europe.

A Software Engineer Created a PDF Bigger Than the Universe and Yes It's Real

Forget country-sized PDFs — someone just made one bigger than the universe.

The World's Tiniest Pacemaker is Smaller Than a Grain of Rice. It's Injected with a Syringe and Works using Light

This new pacemaker is so small doctors could inject it directly into your heart.

Scientists Just Made Cement 17x Tougher — By Looking at Seashells

Cement is a carbon monster — but scientists are taking a cue from seashells to make it tougher, safer, and greener.

Three Secret Russian Satellites Moved Strangely in Orbit and Then Dropped an Unidentified Object

We may be witnessing a glimpse into space warfare.

Researchers Say They’ve Solved One of the Most Annoying Flaws in AI Art

A new method that could finally fix the bizarre distortions in AI-generated images when they're anything but square.

The small town in Germany where both the car and the bicycle were invented

In the quiet German town of Mannheim, two radical inventions—the bicycle and the automobile—took their first wobbly rides and forever changed how the world moves.

Scientists Created a Chymeric Mouse Using Billion-Year-Old Genes That Predate Animals

A mouse was born using prehistoric genes and the results could transform regenerative medicine.