In prehistoric times, women hunted too!2 min read

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For ages, people have believed in the statement-
Men hunted and women gathered– when applied to the lives of our ancestors.
However,  a recent discovery has debunked this division of labour.

In the Andes mountain, the skeleton of a woman has been discovered alongside hunting tools and weapons. This discovery has been supported by others made across burial sites in the Americas.

The skeleton of the woman (speculatively 17-19 years of age) in the Andes was found with weapons used to hunt big animals. This discovery of spears, stone points, knives, and flakes of rocks have confirmed this woman’s ability to hunt.

Archaeologists believed that the objects that people were buried with were the ones that they used in their lives. This confirms that the tasks shared between men and women were more equitable and not gendered at all!

At first, even the researchers were not ready to accept the identity of women as hunters owing to evidences of more recent times. So, they examined 429 skeletons across 107 burial sites across North and South America covering a database from 8000-15000 years ago. They found that for every 27 individuals buried
with tools, 11 were female. The sample was sufficient enough to believe that our female ancestors hunted as well. Hunting, being a community activity, was shared by able bodied members of the group. Considering that it was a highly difficult skill, the training would have to start from childhood!

This discovery has altered the ways in which social scientists view the formation of human groups and identities.

Think with Owliver:
Don’t you think it makes no sense to divide work by gender? Shouldn’t we learn from our ancestors to create a world that is more equal?

Image sourced from CNN.