‘Smoking gun evidence’: Bronze Age shaman long thought to be male revealed to be female goldworker
“It completely tears up previous assumptions,” Wiltshire Museum Director David Dawson told The Guardian. “It’s a fantastic revelation of the position of women in society.”
The Upton Lovell Shaman, a Bronze Age metalworker previously believed to be male, has been confirmed as a female goldworker through new research presented at the Francis Crick Institute's We Go Way Back exhibition. The exhibition, which opened on July 16, showcases the results of DNA analysis conducted on the shaman's skull, teeth, and toes, revealing that she possessed XX sex chromosomes, indicative of a female gender.
Wiltshire Museum Director David Dawson expressed that this finding challenges previous assumptions about the role of women in society and highlighted the significance of the discovery as "smoking gun evidence" of a female metalworker during a time when metalworking was considered a space science. Further analysis of the bones indicated that the shaman was likely over 45 years old at the time of her death and suffered from arthritis in her right wrist, consistent with frequent metalworking tool use.
The complete research conducted by the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Crick is expected to be published in a scientific journal in the near future. The findings were made possible by advancements in ancient DNA technology, which have enabled researchers to uncover new insights into historical figures who were previously inaccessible.
Wiltshire Museum Curator Lisa Brown emphasized the importance of making museum collections available for scientific analysis to gain a more comprehensive understanding of early Bronze Age society, breaking stereotypes and placing women at the forefront of the narrative.
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