Warrior Women: History's Hidden Heroines

Throughout history, civilizations have rumored of the Amazons. Were they real or a figment of a civilzation bent on controlling their women? According to Janine Davis-Kimball, an archaeologist and author of Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines, there is evidence in the archaeological record of warrior women. Whether or not these are the fabled Amazons, no one call tell.

Who were the Amazons? According the Greek legend, they were all-women tribes who highest value was skill in battle. The Greeks thought they were an ancient civilzation of all-female warriors that founded many cities, a culture that killed all boys or left them to die, a race of women that terrorized the surrounding areas.

What makes this tale more legend than myth (that is something was based in fact versus purely a story used to explain orgins) was the high amount of weapons found alongside women buried in the Eurasian steppes. What makes it legend and not history is the fact that "no solid and convincing archaeological evidence has been unearther to back up any of these claims--no lost cities dominated by female artifacts, no caches of artwork portraying the Amazonian point of view." (p. 121, Davis-Kimball)