more evidence of warrior women!

[alsih2o]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20030929/xenawoman.html

"Oct. 1, 2003 — The remains of a six-foot tall woman, buried with a shield and knife, were recently discovered in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Lincolnshire, England.

The body and artifacts, which date to A.D. 500-600, suggest that more women than previously believed may have fought alongside men during the turbulent years following England's Roman period."



and more about another warrior woman of royalty listed in the article- http://members.tripod.com/~ancient_history/boad.html

 

[Wombat]

Or at least "woman".

While most cultures discourage women from participating in battle, this is not always the case and, in turbulent times, the matters change.

In other words, there are always possible exceptions.

Personally, I love the exceptions of this world -- it makes categorization so much more difficult!

 

[Theron]

And if you're a 5'6 - 5'8 male warrior from the same culture, are you going to tell a 6'0 woman she CAN'T fight? In my neck of the woods, that's called "asking for it."

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Personally, I love the exceptions of this world -- it makes categorization so much more difficult!

Second that! Thanks for the link alsih20. I wonder if the height made more of a difference back then than the gender in terms of who fought?

 

[tarchon]

Second that! Thanks for the link alsih20. I wonder if the height made more of a difference back then than the gender in terms of who fought?

Indirectly - it most likely indicated that she was of high social status by birth, and that seems to be true of most instances of fightin' femmes. I suspect it was only when they wielded exceptional authority that they could flaunt social norms like that.
The only culture I know of in which it wasn't considered an oddity (though not necessarily bad) would be the Scythians and related West Asian cultures. There's still some debate as to how prevalent it was, but contemporary accounts and archaeology are fairly clear that women often participated in warfare.
Of course in many other cultures there are singular historical and legendary accounts of it, Boudicca, Sichelgaita of Salerno, Mu Lan, and Camilla the Volscian. Frequently the idea is heavily romanticized I've found.

 

[hong]

Of course in many other cultures there are singular historical and legendary accounts of it, Boudicca, Sichelgaita of Salerno, Mu Lan, and Camilla the Volscian. Frequently the idea is heavily romanticized I've found.

Miss Piggy! Miss Piggy!

 

[Desdichado]

We do know quite a bit about the past, but we also "know" stuff based on assumptions that quite often turn out to be completely wrong. As an amateur student of history, it's amazing to me to see, in my lifetime, complete shifts in what we believed about certain ancient cultures, for instance. In other words, reapersaurus and Amos_Sten: I think you're both right!

 

[Wraithdrit]

Being married to someone who has a M.S. in Anthropology I've had similar discussions with her.

She admits it. 90% of what we have about prehistory and a lot of what we have about history is based on assumptions and pure speculation.

Case in point, Discovery Channel ran a special on Nefertiti (sp?) a while back. They uncovered a chamber with three mummies. One mummy was female, had a wig on, and had double pierced ears. She was buried with a younger male and old woman. The archeologists and historians involved were convinced by these clues that it was Nefertiti because the wig came from the same era as she lived (wonder how common that was in ancient egypt), Nefertiti was often seen depicted with double pierced ears (wonder how common that was in ancient egypt), and Nefertiti had a mother in law and a brother that she was close to.

I mean come on! This is NOT a case for this is Nefertiti, its a case of this could possibly be her. But the show was shot and narrated as if it WAS her, no doubt about it. My opinion of Discovery dropped ten notches that day.

 

[xrpsuzi]

I mean come on! This is NOT a case for this is Nefertiti, its a case of this could possibly be her. But the show was shot and narrated as if it WAS her, no doubt about it. My opinion of Discovery dropped ten notches that day.

I saw the same show-uncertainty does not sell and it's a TV show on discovery. I also think the main proponent for the theory that it was Nefertiti was really looking to support the theory that it was her, not trying to find out who the unidentified mummy was. It's a total different goal.

Anyway, about warrior women.... women can attain positions/tasks traditional reserved for men and assume/adopt a male status due to that position. For example, a female priest in the middle ages would be considered a man in terms of status, due her position. I would think that economic/social standing would dictate if a woman were allowed to do so, but I think something along the same lines would apply.

It's similar to an article I was reading about a female anthropologist whowas studying a tribe which had male only rituals. She was allowed to view them because she was there as an official representation of her university, and therefore adopted a male status in that tribe for that time being.

food for thought,
suzi

 

[seasong]

Very cool. Definitely something to spring on my players as a ghost story!

-seasong