The Ivory Man Was The Ivory Lady
For 15 years, researchers thought the owner of a 5,000-year-old crystal dagger found in Spain was a male chieftain, but tooth enamel analysis showed that she was a lady
Powerful, revered, celebrated after her death. The people who lived with Copper Age Spain’s “Ivory Lady” loved her enough to build the largest megalithic tomb yet found on the Iberian peninsula. They buried her with an amazing array of precious objects from around the world, including an elephant tusk, ostrich eggshell, flint inlaid with amber, and a stunning carved rock crystal dagger.
When she died, the Ivory Lady was between 17 and 25 years old. Her descendants revered her enough to continue to place precious objects in her memorial tomb for several generations. She was buried in a funeral complex called a tholos. Following her death, another twenty people were also buried in the tholos, and of this group, 15 have been confirmed to be women.
Ancient remains are often too degraded to be identified as any sex. At the same time, historically, most large ancient tombs have been assumed even without hard evidence, to be those of men. Teeth, however, can be preserved sufficiently to be tested using nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, a new technology which can identify sex-specific differences in tooth enamel.
Was The Ivory Lady A Hereditary Ruler?
More likely, she was a spiritual leader and possibly a visionary. According to Marta Cintas-Peña and her co-researchers at the University of Seville, the Ivory Lady “was the person with the highest social status in the pre-Beaker Copper Age (c. 3200–2500 BC) for the whole of Iberia.” And, her society revered and respected women in ways that differ from today’s patriarchal view of society and history.
How do the researchers know this? So far, other high-status burials of women in Europe during this time period share space with other high-standing male burials. But the researchers haven’t found any high-status male burials near the Ivory Lady and a large group of other women who were buried near her.
The University of Seville researchers say that “The Ivory Lady appears to have drawn her influence, prestige, or power neither from birth, nor from the control of agricultural produce, but from her personal charisma and her achievements.”
Cinnabar, Wine, and Cannabis
The Ivory Lady, along with the other women buried in rich graves nearby, had evidence of extensive use of cinnabar during their lifetimes. Cinnabar is a bright red mineral ore: mercury sulfide. Because it contains mercury, cinnabar is considered to be highly toxic, yet Chinese medicine has also used it for centuries. Other burials in Spain and Portugal during this time period also indicate that cinnabar may have been ingested for ritual purposes.
Plates found in the Ivory Lady’s burial chamber were coated with wine and cannabis. These plates are some of the earliest proven uses of cannabis, probably for ceremonial or spiritual purposes.
Did the Ivory Lady and other young women buried near Seville 5,000 years ago take these drugs and make prophecies? Was she like the Oracle of Delphi or a Sibyl? The legendary Greek Sibyl was said to be a very old woman, but the Ivory Lady was young, possibly even in her teens when she died.
Perhaps the Ivory Lady was similar to much-later French seer Joan of Arc. She may have guided her people through difficult times and used cannabis, wine, and cinnabar to foresee the future or illuminate the past.
Lovers Of Beauty, Traders And Collectors
The Ivory Lady and her people must have been collectors and traders, since so many of the precious objects found in their graves came from far away. A massive 1.5 kilo elephant tusk and ostrich eggs from Africa. The rock crystal dagger and flint blades inlaid with amber from eastern Europe.
She wasn’t the daughter of a king or queen, and she may not have had any children at all. If she did, they weren’t buried with her. The young women from later generations who were buried near her weren’t her biological descendants, but they may have been her spiritual ones.
The Ivory Lady was buried with precious objects, but her society wasn’t wealth-obsessed.
She was a young woman with mysterious skills and qualities who makes us wonder what life really was like 5,000 years ago.
Learning about her, I couldn’t help but think of Merlin Stone’s 1970s exploration of ancient religions and cultures documenting the time in history When God Was A Woman.
Yes- I'm finding out all the time that the ethical female sage/warrior figure was much more common in real life than I used to think it was.
"Drawn her influence....from her personal charisma and her achievements..."
I know that type. It's very common in television animation- and in my fiction.