The most prominent person on the Iberian Peninsula during the Copper Age was a woman: ‘La Señora del Marfil’

In 2008, an individual was discovered in a megalithic tomb in the Valença tomb de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán (Seville), known as Valencina. Dating indicated it to be from the Copper Age, between the years 2900 and 2650 BC C..

As well as being a rare example of a burial occupied by a single occupant, the tomb contained a large number of valuables, suggesting that its occupant – originally thought to be a young man between the ages of 17 and 25 – had a high social status.

Now, researchers from the University of Seville (USA) and other academic centers in Vienna (Austria) report in the open access journal Scientific Reports that he was not a man but a woman: the most prominent subject on the Iberian Peninsula at that time.

General view of the tomb of ‘La Señora del Marfil’. / ATLAS-University of Seville Research Group

The authors analyzed substances from the toothpaste of the now renamed ‘The Ivory Lady‘. Specifically, they examined a molar and an incisor, where they detected the presence of “amelogenin peptides sexually dimorphic.

This new technique allows, like DNA, to identify the chromosomal sex of bone remains, but, unlike DNA, it does not present as many problems of sample contamination, which is why it is expected that in the coming years it will revolutionize research in prehistoric archeology. and, mainly in gender archeology.

The teacher Marta Feather BeltsFirst author of the study, believes that “this scientific technique will mean a huge leap in the knowledge we have about prehistoric societies, and especially about women and children, who traditionally and unfairly have been placed in the background”.

It represents a leap in knowledge about prehistoric societies, especially about women and children, who have traditionally and unfairly been placed in the background.

Marta Cintas Pena (USA)

An exceptional trousseau and burial in Seville

The ‘Ivory Lady’ was buried nearly 5,000 years ago along with exceptional remains, which included two fangs African and Asian elephant, amber Probably from Sicily stone high quality, ostrich egg shell is dagger with a rock crystal blade and an ivory sleeve, among other unique objects.

The exceptional funerary goods of ‘La Señora del Marfil’ included flint blades, decorated elephant tusks, ostrich eggshell and a dagger with a rock crystal blade and an ivory handle. / Miriam Luciañez Trivino

At a time when most burials were collective, the remains of this youth between 17 and 25 years old they were deposited in a chamber all to themselves. This individual character of the tomb and the extraordinary set of objects deposited next to it suggest that the ‘Senhora do Ivory’ had a prominent social position.

For two hundred years, the area around his tomb was used as a funeral and worship spacebut always respecting a margin of about 35 meters around it, which suggests that the memory of its existence and importance was maintained for at least 8 to 10 generations.

Furthermore, the scarcity of burials for children, as well as the lack of funerary goods associated with non-adults, indicates that high-status individuals achieved their social position through merit in life, not through family inheritance. The authors therefore suggest that the ‘Ivory Lady’ achieved her rank on her own merits.

“We believe it is one of the most important discoveries of recent decades to understand the early social complexity between Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies in Europe”, highlights the co-author. Leonardo Garcia Sanjuán from the USA.

It is one of the most important discoveries in recent decades to understand the early social complexity between Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies in Europe.

Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan (USA)

Leading Women in the Copper Age

Those responsible for the work stress that no tomb of a man with a social status equivalent to that of the ‘Ivory Lady’ has been found.

The only comparable Copper Age found on the Iberian Peninsula is also found at the Valencina site, and contains the remains of at least 15 women: the famous tholos from Montelirio. People descended from the leader could have built it.

All this new information suggests that women occupied leadership positions in Copper Age Iberian society and invites us to reconsider their role in prehistoric societies.

Elephant tusk found in Copper Age female leader tomb. / ATLAS-University of Seville Research Group