Ruling class women could be important in governing society, said Al Argar, a research group in Mediterranean social archeology. University published Tonoma de Barcelona said in a news release published on Thursday.
The team analyzed grave artifacts found in a royal tomb at the La Almoloa site, now in Mercia.
The tomb, known as Grave 38, contains the remains of two persons – a man between the ages of 35 and 40 and a woman between the ages of 25 and 30 – in addition to about 30 valuables, many of which are made of silver.
Most of the bags belonged to women, including jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces and earlob plugs and silver diadems.
These items were first found in 2014, and researchers have now determined that the tomb was sitting under the administrator hall of a palace building.
This is the first time that archaeologists have found evidence that al-Argar society was organized around such a complex, which had political function.
Study co-author Christina Rehuet, a professor of prehistory at UAB, told CNN that the social status of those in burial under the administrator’s hall would have been legalized.
Women formed the political elite in a highly hierarchical society, Rihuet said – and its effects are significant.
“The role of women in the past was far more important than we dared to imagine,” she said, adding that women in al-Argar were able to gain political power in a very violent and exploitative society.
“This says a lot about the process of silence that women have endured since then,” Rihuet added.
People believe that our history is accumulated, Rihuet said, but al-Argar suffered a social collapse to such an extent that he has no recollection in subsequent cultures.
“We have lost all the knowledge of these people,” said Rihuet, whose work has begun to paint a picture of life in Al Argar over the past two decades.
The Al Arger Society ruled the region from 2200 to 1550 BCE, developing into the first state organization in the western Mediterranean during the last two centuries of its existence, the news release said.
Archaeologists compared the diadem found in La Almoloya with four others found on different tombs of the Al Argar community and found that they were all very similar and very valuable.
“The big surprise is that they match the clear model,” even though they were seen hundreds of kilometers away, Rihuet said.
This meant that the symbols of political power remained the same in the wider sphere of society.
The fact that elite women were buried with such elegant recreational goods demonstrates their important role in arrogant society, according to researchers.
“In arrogant society, women of the dominant classes were buried with diamonds, while men were buried with swords and daggers. The pleasurable goods buried with these men were of low quantity and quality,” he said. “While swords represent the most effective tool for strengthening political decisions, al-Argar might have been dominated by powerful men, although ideological legitimacy and possibly government were in the hands of a few women.”
The couple, who were found in the tomb, were buried together or at the same time in BC. Died in the middle of the 17th century. They were not related, and had a daughter with them, who was buried nearby.
“The team is planning to do more excavations at the site to try to expand our knowledge about Al Arger,” Rihuet said.
The research was published in the journal Antiquity.
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