Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Seville, C/María de Padilla s/n, 41004, Seville, Spain.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 6;13(1):9594. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-36368-x.
Given the absence of written records, the main source of information available to analyze gender inequalities in early complex societies is the human body itself. And yet, for decades, archaeologists have struggled with the sex estimation of poorly preserved human remains. Here we present an exceptional case study that shows how ground-breaking new scientific methods may address this problem. Through the analysis of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel, we establish that the most socially prominent person of the Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 BC) was not male, as previously thought, but female. The analysis of this woman, discovered in 2008 at Valencina, Spain, reveals that she was a leading social figure at a time where no male attained a remotely comparable social position. Only other women buried a short time after in the Montelirio tholos, part of the same burial area, appear to have enjoyed a similarly high social position. Our results invite to reconsider established interpretations about the political role of women at the onset of early social complexity, and question traditionally held views of the past. Furthermore, this study anticipates the changes that newly developed scientific methods may bring to prehistoric archaeology and the study of human social evolution.
由于缺乏书面记录，分析早期复杂社会中的性别不平等的主要信息来源是人体本身。然而，几十年来，考古学家一直在努力对保存不善的人类遗骸进行性别估计。在这里，我们呈现了一个特殊的案例研究，展示了开创性的新科学方法如何解决这个问题。通过对牙釉质中性别二态性的釉原蛋白肽的分析，我们确定了伊比利亚铜器时代（公元前 3200-2200 年）最具社会影响力的人不是男性，如先前认为的那样，而是女性。对这位于 2008 年在西班牙瓦伦西亚纳发现的女性的分析表明，她是当时一位具有领导地位的社会人物，而当时没有任何男性获得过与之相媲美的社会地位。只有在 Montelirio 半球形坟墓中与她同时埋葬的少数其他女性，似乎也享有同样高的社会地位。我们的研究结果邀请重新考虑关于早期社会复杂性开始时女性政治角色的既定解释，并对过去传统的观点提出质疑。此外，这项研究预示着新开发的科学方法可能会给史前考古学和人类社会进化研究带来的变化。
