DOC Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines by Mona Behan; Jeannine Davis-Kimball in History

Review

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Bronze Age archaeology on the RUSSIAN STEPPESBy Robert WilliamsThe author; Jeannine Davis-Kimball became an archaeologist late in life. Driven by her desire to know more about the artifacts from the burial mounds of Eurasia; the deserts of western China and areas near the Black Sea; she set out to explore them for herself. She set out for Kazakhstan; a remote region hundreds of miles southeast of Moscow and halfway to Mongolia. There she suffered not only from the primitive remoteness and conditions of the area but also from the beaurocratic red tape from authorities in the Soviet Union and China.Warrior Women or s as the Greeks called them have been identified not only by the legends of Homer and Herodotus but also by finds in burial mounds or Kurgans on the vast steppes. The word is thought by scholars to come from a Proto-Indo-European term meaning; "no-husband one". It was once thought that all graves that contained weapons were automatically marked as belonging to men. Ms. Davis has thought to dispel that notion. The "Golden Man of Saka" was one such false notion.The early nomads were the Saka; the Scythians; the Sauromatians; and the Sarmatians who occupied those lands beginning in the eigth century BCE. till the forth century CE. Due to the harsh living conditions and the need for protection; women were oblidged to carry and use weapons for self defense when the men were away. It is not known if these women used them for attack as Greek legends confirm. In her excavations; 15% of the graves were women buried with weapons and armor.The Greeks were a partiarchial society wherein the women were forced to stay at home and be submissive. The nomadic steppe women were a threat to that philosophy and the Greeks wanted none of that to spread around at home. Herodotus wrote that the queen; Tomyris led her tribe of Massagetae Saka to victory against the Persian king Cyris the Great in 530 BCE. And Homer said that the s fought against the Greeks at Troy when queen Penthesilea joined forces with king Priam against king Agamemnon.The nomadic peoples were composed of only matriarchal societies. They believed in Matar or Ares the Great Mother Godess and Artemis; twin sister of Apollo. Religious leaders of the nomads were almost always women.The author believes that warrior women were not confined to the steppes of Asia. In her travels through England and Ireland she has found evidence of celts and warrior queens like Boudicca who nearly destroyed the Roman armies sent against her.This is a well written informative book documenting the authors travels and discoveries in the world of Bronze Age archaeology on the Russian steppes. I learned a lot from reading it.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. *Review from The Illustrated Page*By Waites FamilyI enjoyed Warrior Women; but it was also frustrating in some ways – she only talks about areas that she’s had personal experience with; such as the Chinese mummies; which didn’t really fit with the “Hidden Heroine” topic. The title also lead me to believe that the book was mainly about; well; warrior women. In reality; they only made up one chapter; maybe two if you count the chapter on the s; whom have no evidence of actually existing but were probably made up based on stories of foreign women to keep Greek women in line.The book also only covers Eurasia. In the second to last page; she mentions that an ancient North African kingdom trained women as bodyguards. Why not more information?I think part of the brevity is the lack of information on general. Really; all we know about the ancient warrior women in the steppes was that they existed. Their nomadic tribes didn’t have any written language; so all the evidence comes from burial goods. Plus; the presence of women buried with weapons was ignored for many years by the archaeological establishment.Still; the book did contain some fascinating tidbits and was easy to read. I would recommend it as an introduction to the topic. It gave me other avenues to explore in my reading.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. We are all Warrior WomenBy fbi chickWarrior Women in a Fierce WorldWarrior Women by Jeannine Davis-Kimball; Ph.D. explores the elements of parts of history that today's society left behind. The strong and powerful women who shaped our world but not our text books. The women who could have held their own with men and not back down. For this reason if not the spectacular imagery or wild adventures that flow from Davis’s pen alone should make you and any young women aspiring for great things to read it as well. I treasure the knowledge in the book but this is not why it's one of my favorites it is the message that anyone young woman can find their place in this big vast world. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt they were insignificant or unimportant. For the little girls who have ever been told they couldn't do something or the older women who have been told they are past their prime. This book however is not only to empower young women but also to show young men how damaging a narrow mind can be to the larger pictures. That they can be forces for change and demand that women not be left out of history or constantly be overlooked. That is why I recommend this book for the way it shows how important we are to the story of this world and leaving anything out would be a mistake. This is why I found this book incredibly interesting as well as informative. Davis paints the most magically pictures of the centers of her studies which sound almost stranger than fiction. For anyone looking for an adventure; an inspiration; a vast vault of knowledge or a combination of the three I highly recommend Warrior Women By Jeannie Kimball Davis.