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The researchers said ruling class women may have played an important role in the governance of El Argar society, the Mediterranean Social Archaeoecology Research Group at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona said in a press release on Thursday.
The team analyzed funerary objects found in a princely tomb at the site of La Almoloya, in present-day Murcia.
The tomb, known as Grave 38, contained the remains of two people – a man between 35 and 40 and a woman between 25 and 30 – as well as around 30 valuables, many of which were silver. .
Most of the items belonged to the woman, including jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces and earplugs, and a silver tiara.
The artefacts were first discovered in 2014, and researchers have now determined that the tomb lies beneath what used to be a palace’s governor’s room.
This is the first time that archaeologists have found evidence that the El Argar society was organized around these types of complexes, which had a political function.
Study co-author Cristina Rihuete, professor of prehistory at UAB, told CNN that being buried under the government hall would have legitimized the social standing of those in the grave.
Women were part of the political elite in the highly hierarchical society, Rihuete said – and the implications are significant.
“The role of women in the past was much more important than we dared to imagine,” she said, explaining that the women of El Argar were able to have full political power in a very violent and exploitative society.
“It says a lot about the process of reducing the silence that women have suffered since,” Rihuete added.
People tend to think our history is accumulated, said Rihuete, but El Argar suffered a social collapse to the point that later civilizations had no memory of it.
“We have lost all knowledge of these people,” said Rihuete, whose work over the past two decades has started to paint a picture of life in El Argar.
The El Argar company ruled the region from 2200 to 1550 BCE, becoming the first state organization in the western Mediterranean in the last two centuries of its existence, according to the press release.
Archaeologists compared the tiara found at La Almoloya with four others found in different tombs of the El Argar company, and found that they were all very similar and very valuable.
“The big surprise is that they fit a clear pattern,” even though they were found hundreds of kilometers apart, Rihuete said.
This means that the symbols of political power have remained the same across the vast territory of society, she added.
The fact that elite women were buried with such opulent grave goods underlines their important role in Argar society, researchers say.
“In Argaric society, women of the ruling classes were buried with diadems, while men were buried with a sword and a dagger. The funeral goods buried with these men were of lesser quantity and quality, ”they said. “As swords represent the most effective instrument to strengthen political decisions, the dominant men of El Argar could have played an executive role, even if the ideological legitimacy as well as, perhaps, the government, were in the hands. of some women. ”
The couple found in the tomb died simultaneously, or around the same time, in the mid-17th century BCE. They were not related and had a daughter together, who was buried nearby.
The team are planning further excavations at the site to try to broaden our knowledge of El Argar, Rihuete said.
The research was published in the journal Antiquity.
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