Queens of the Bronze Age? Strong Evidence of Female Leaders in Argaric Culture

Figure 1: La Amoloya site (Image Credit: La Arqueoecologia Social Mediterrania Research Group)

 

Matriarchal societies are ones wherein women rule the group, but they are incredibly rare both historically and today (the closest today being that of the Minangkabau).  This has led scholars to default to the notion that men automatically ruled societies and cultural groups, but recent new evidence is turning that notion on its head and making scholars reexamine this idea.  One of the more recent studies to show that there may have been women rulers in the past comes from the Argaric sites of La Almoloya and El Argar in modern day Spain.  This blog post will discuss this new evidence and what it tells us about the sociopolitical organization of the Argaric culture and specifically for Argaric women.

 

In 2004 archaeologists were excavating at what is believed to be a palace structure at the site of La Almoloya (Figure 1).  Associated with the Argaric culture it was already known that this was a state level society based on it meeting several of the key characteristics to be distinguished as such, including specialized laborers and social stratification.  This state level society flourished in the Early Bronze Age (between 2200 and 1550 BC).  Previous excavations at the site of El Argar, where the cultural group gets its namesake, had yielded a bounty of evidence about the people and how they lived and died, but there remains much more to learn. 

 

The recent find of a double burial at La Almoloya has produced interesting new interpretations of four previously excavated burials at El Argar.  The new La Almoloya burial contained two individuals, a man and a woman buried together under the palace floors.  They were unrelated to each other but were the parents of an infant buried nearby, suggesting that they were intimately connected to each other.  The man’s skeletal remains demonstrated that he was most likely a warrior, gathered from occupational markers and a facial injury as well as his modest grave goods of swords and daggers.  The woman’s burial goods, however, provided a very different interpretation of her occupation and status.  She was buried with over 30 lavish and rich burial goods, including a silver diadem (crown) that rested on her head (Figure 2).  Several of her other grave goods were also made or adorned in silver, including items of personal adornment (e.g., ear plugs and hair pins) and pottery and daggers, all adorned with silver sheeting.  The sheer number of grave goods compared to that of the man was astonishing, but it was the value of those grave goods, which based on modern conversions equate to several thousands of dollars, that led the archaeological team to conclude that she was most likely of upper class or ruling class status.  

 

Figure 2: Silver Diadem worn by the woman found at the site of La Almoloya (Image Credit: J.A. Soldevilla)

 

Hers is not the only Argaric burial found, though.  Four other women’s burials found at the site of El Argar previously have also demonstrated rich burials, along with women wearing a diadem crafted the same as the one found on the woman buried at La Almoloya.  The differences between the woman at La Almoloya and those at El Argar is the number of persons buried with them.  The women at El Argar were interred with several others, who appear to have been buried with them long after the principal woman was buried.  This is interpreted as continuing the pay homage and reverence to the dead woman long after she was initially buried.  All of the evidence taken together scholars have begun to question the previous interpretations of what sociopolitical life was like in Argaric society, which initially promoted the idea of male warrior leaders.  Now with this new evidence it seems that the leaders of this society may have been women.

 

There is additional evidence to support this notion of women leadership among the Argaric.  There is substantial evidence that shows that young girls reached adulthood far earlier than their male counterparts.  Girls as young as age 6 were already designated as adults, whereas boys did not earn or receive that designation until they reached adolescence.  Furthermore, historians have pointed out that women occupied various high-class occupations, including textile manufacture and metallurgy.  The latter is believed to have been regarded very highly among the Argaric given their specialized skills.

 

Critics of this interpretation of the women’s burials have pointed out that there is too little evidence available at this time to certify that the Argaric were a matriarchy, but they do agree that this latest discovery at La Almoloya is significant.  They simply caution that additional research needs to be completed.  The initial report on this discovery notes that more analysis of the site remains, including the confirmation that the structure where the woman was buried was indeed a palace, but initial review of the evidence points to that conclusion.  Thus far this discovery is amazing and sheds new light on the Argaric culture, and if it does show that this was a matriarchal society then it is just further evidence that these may not have been as rare as currently believed.

 

References

Davis-Marks, I. (2021, March 12). Silver Diadem Found in Spain May Point to Bronze Age Woman’s Political Power. Smithsonian Magazine.

Lull, V., Rihuete-Herrada, C., Risch, R., Bonora, B., Celdrán-Beltrán, E., Fregeiro, M. I., . . . Micó, R. (2021). Emblems and spaces of power during the Argaric Bronze Age at La Almoloya, Murcia. Antiquity, 95(380), 329–348.

Metcalfe, T. (2021, March 7). Ancient woman may have been powerful European leader, 4,000-year-old treasure suggests. National Geographic.

 

 

William Montague Cobb, Revolutionary Change Maker in Physical Anthropology

Figure 1: Museum panel on William Montague Cobb (Source: Sociological Cinema)

 

William Montague Cobb (Figure 1) is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the modern discipline of Physical (Biological) Anthropology, but he is so much more than that.  He is also lauded as the first African American Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology, a title he alongside the moniker of the “only” until after 1953, Civil Rights Activist, Award Winner, and published author.  He accomplished so much in his lifetime, which is incredible, but he did all of this and more in a time when the odds were heavily stacked against him simply because he was Black.  This blog post will address William Montague Cobb’s history and accomplishments, including discussing the challenges he faced and overcame along the way.

 

Cobb was born in 1904 in Washington, D.C. to a family of modest means.  Growing up he was fascinated with human variation and the idea of “races”, which is what eventually drew him to the field of physical anthropology, but it was his strong desire to help people that led him to pursue medicine.  When he first entered the Washington, D.C. public education system he was surprised and angered to find out that he would not be attending the local school nearest to his home, which was a White-only school.  He could not understand how and why human variation was used to divide and exploit people rather than it being celebrated and praised.  His experiences with prejudice and racism did not discourage him but instead strengthened his resolve to make a positive change in the world.

 

He pursued his undergraduate education at Amherst College.  He embraced the liberal arts education he received, throwing himself equally into his biological and physical sciences studies and the humanities and social sciences.  He excelled in the classroom as well as in athletics.  He won several championship titles in cross country and boxing.  Upon completion of his Bachelors degree in 1925 he earned a scholarship to a prestigious biological laboratory and eventually caught the attention of a Biology faculty member working at Howard University.  Under his supervision Cobb conducted independent research in embryology, and he was later encouraged to pursue his medical studies at Howard University’s Medical School.  To pay for his medical school training he worked several jobs, first as a waiter and later as a farm laborer.  Both experiences provided him more first-hand knowledge of the mistreatment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), furthering his resolve to make a difference.

 

Near the end of his studies at Howard University’s Medical School he was offered a full-time position at the institution, which he accepted and started after he graduated a year later.  It was serendipitous that changes at Howard University would lead him to pursue further study in anatomy and physical anthropology at Western Reserve University, where he was supervised by some of the leading physical anthropologists of the period.  This is important because at that time many physical anthropologists was focused on proving biological determinism and the inferiority of BIPOC, but the scholars Cobb worked with were working toward disproving this dominant idea.  Learning all he could Cobb took up the path he had always intended on following and actually began to lead the way for demonstrating that there were no biologically sound differences among racial groups, and he actually took the very evidence that scholars used to support that inaccurate assumption to show how it could also support BIPOC excellence.  Ultimately, his hard work refuted the biological determinism models, ushering in a new and current paradigm present within the discipline.

 

Cobb did not stop there, however.  He used his medical expertise and paired it with his newfound physical anthropological knowledge to continue his groundbreaking research.  This time he focused on health disparities and prejudice within the medical communities.  He successfully demonstrated the effects of racism and prejudice on negative health outcomes, advocating for more equal and equitable patient care and treatment.  He used this to advocate for the inclusion of Black doctors and medical staff in predominantly White hospitals and medical facilities, which eventually happened within his lifetime.

 

He eventually went on to establish more opportunities of BIPOC.  He established the first research facility to train Black students in physical anthropology at Howard University, which continues on to this day.  Between his work at Howard’s Medical School and physical anthropology facility he trained over 6000 students within his lifetime, earning him the first to be honored as the Distinguished Professor at Howard University, awarded to him in 1969.  Upon retirement he continued working in esteemed visiting professorship positions throughout various prestigious university across the United States.

 

In addition to his achievements in teaching in higher education Cobb accomplished many more significant activities.  He is credited with publishing over 1000 publications.  He was the leader for various organizations, including serving as the first African American President for the American Association of Physical Anthropology from 1958-1959, President of the NAACP from 1976-1982, and the President of the Anthropological Society of Washington.  He was the editor of the Journal of the National Medical Association for 28 years.  He was also the recipient of over 100 awards for his work in Civil Rights and physical anthropology.

 

William Montague Cobb’s successes are numerous and incredible.  They are even more so when it is recognized that he was the first to achieve several of these accomplishments, largely because of the cultural environments he worked within.  He achieved immense success despite the challenges and obstacles put in his way, and he used his achievements to make it easier for those who came after him to achieve more than he ever did.  His greatness should never be forgotten so they can inspire subsequent generations to continue on with his legacy, which is just what he wanted and the best way to honor his memory.

 

References

Douglass, M. (1992). The legacy of William Montague Cobb, MD, PhD (1904-1990). Journal of the National Medical Association, 885-887.

Rankin-Hill, L. M., & Blakely, M. L. (1994). W. Montague Cobb (1904–1990): Physical Anthropologist, Anatomist, and Activist. American Anthropologist, 74-96.

Watkins, R. (2007). Knowledge from the Margins: W. Montague Cobb’s Pioneering Research in Biocultural Anthropology. American Anthropologist, 109(1), 186–196.

 

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Mackenzie Price, Sociolinguist

Figure 1: Mackenzie Price (Image Source: LinkedIn)

 

This blog has featured a number of anthropologists who work in various professional fields, including education, public policy, medicine, and more.  Most of the applied anthropologists profiled have come from sociocultural, biological, or archaeological anthropology, leaving a gap in the applied anthropologists working with their linguistic anthropological backgrounds.  Today’s blog post seeks to remedy that deficiency by featuring sociolinguist Mackenzie Price (Figure 1).

 

Price received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and she went on to earn Masters degrees from the University of California-Davis and Georgetown University.  She also earned her Doctorate from Georgetown University.  With each of her degrees she specialized in a specific aspect of linguistic study, from second language learning to sociolinguistics, which is the connection between communication, culture, and human behavior. 

 

She worked as an Adjunct Instructor for several years before entering into the private sector working as a sociolinguist, first as a Principal Strategist for FrameWorks Institute.  FrameWorks Institute is a nonprofit organization that utilizes social science methods to research how the public understands social issues and then transforms that information into fitting their clients’ needs.  This often takes the form in creating educational or marketing materials that better informs the audience of the clients’ intended message(s).  Price’s role was to provide strategic language choices and approaches that enhanced the client’s message in order to successfully communicate it to a broad audience.  She worked on a number of projects during her time at FrameWorks Institute before eventually moving on to DotDash Meredith.  Here she works as the Editorial Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion, and her responsibilities include developing anti-bias language and editorial policies regarding public health issues concerning race and racial bias.

 

In a testimonial that Price provided the American Anthropological Association about applied anthropological careers she noted how anthropology can provide individuals with a wealth of opportunities.  As a linguist she particularly highlighted the benefits of understanding linguistics by stating:

“Really, you can do anything you want to do and be a linguist. Every field has a piece of it somewhere that’s interested in social relationships and society, and thinking about language-how people interact with one another-is a part of that, and that’s a skill that you can take with you different places.”

 

 

Bibliography

FrameWorks Institute. FrameWorks Institute. 2021. Electronic. 16 December 2021.

Price, Mackenzie. LinkedIn. 2020. Electronic. 16 December 2021.

The Captivating and Curious Careers of Anthropology. American Anthropological Association. 2020. Film.