Ancient burial site upends what we knew about Stone Age women and children
Gender stereotypes challenged by discovery at Stone Age burial site
- An excavation of a 5,000-year-old Stone Age burial site in northern Latvia challenges traditional views on gender roles.
- Analysis of remains at the Zvejnieki cemetery revealed that stone tools were buried with women and children, not exclusively with men as previously believed.
- This finding overturns the long-held stereotype of 'man the hunter' and redefines interpretations of societal roles in prehistoric Europe.
- Researchers used microscopic analysis to determine the tools were used for working animal hides, with some deliberately broken as part of funerary rites.
- The study highlights that women were as likely as men, and children and older adults were the most common age groups, to receive stone artefacts in burials.