There was a time when nothing was written down. All that is known of that remote past is through evidence that has survived the passage of time to reach our days. Objects and bones, however, are not always properly interpreted. There is always the bias of the interpreter.
In 2008, the remains of a great leader from the Iberian Copper Age (3200-2200 BC) were found at the Valencina de la Concepción site (Seville). Later researchers established that this was probably the most socially prominent person of that period. And it was interpreted that he was a man.
Researchers from the University of Seville studied these human remains again and discovered, after analyzing their dental enamel, that in reality the skeleton that had been found… belonged to a woman. “She was a prominent social figure at a time when no man reached a remotely comparable social position,” she says in the article published in Scientific Reports magazine.
In the middle of the Copper Age, there were hardly any other personalities that could be compared to this young woman between the ages of 17 and 25. And absolutely all of them were high-class females who were buried shortly after in the Montelirio tholos and are part of the same burial area.
Archaeologists call this woman the ‘Ivory Lady’ after the large tusks of African and Asian elephants found encircling her skull (before we knew she was a female figure, she was given the name ‘Ivory Merchant’ ). In the megalithic tomb, there was also an ostrich eggshell, a rock crystal dagger, and an ivory, flint, and amber sleeve that probably came from Sicily.
The first analyzes carried out on the pelvic bones determined, however, that it was a man. The problem is that this part of the skeleton was not well preserved, the experts now explain. Hence, the study of enamel was chosen in search of the AMELX gene, which is located on the X chromosome.
They detected the gene after testing just two of the teeth, proving they belonged to a female. Although not much is known about who she was, researchers note that she was the highest-ranking person in her society at a time when new forms of leadership were emerging in Western Europe.
“She was a leader who existed before kings and queens, and her status was not inherited, which means she was a leader based on the personal achievements, skills, and personality she demonstrated during her lifetime,” they say in a statement. Her special individual burial, and not in a common grave, as was customary at the time, confirms her status.
Her grave goods, compared to the more than 2,000 tombs found in the area, also show that the woman was far above other individuals in terms of wealth and social status. The nearby and luxurious tomb of the tholos de Montelirio, for example, contains the remains of at least 15 women, probably descendants of the ‘Señora del Marfil’.
For two hundred years, the area around his tomb was used as a burial and cult space, but always respecting a space of about 35 meters around it, which suggests that the memory and memory of its existence and importance was maintained for at least between 8 and 10 generations.
Studies carried out in the Chalcolithic site of Valenciana de la Concepción in the last 15 years have shown that this territory was the seat of the largest civilization in Iberia almost 5,000 years ago. A meeting place that connected people from distant lands.
