Scientists and historians had long been perplexed by the enigma surrounding a 2,000-year-old island burial, but the riddle has now been cleared up. Archaeologists were perplexed as to who was buried in the grave that was found on the Isles of Scilly's Bryher island.
The Iron Age grave discovered on Bryher on the Isles of Scilly in 1999 in which a sword and a mirror were found (Image: Historic England)
Since the unusual Iron Age tomb included both a mirror and a sword, researchers for decades were unable to determine whether a man or a woman had been interred there. Swords are typically associated with men, while mirrors in tombs are typically linked with ladies. That mystery has now been solved by a new scientific study conducted by Historic England and released on Thursday the 27th of July, 2023.
An international team of researchers has reexamined the ancient tomb, which has baffled archaeologists ever since it was found in 1999. Farmer Paul Jenkins stumbled onto the stone-lined burial chamber on Hillside Farm near Bryher, and it has turned out to be the richest Iron Age grave ever uncovered in the South West and the only one in the area to include weaponry.
Archaeologists discovered a shield and a sword in a copper alloy scabbard during the initial excavation 24 years ago; these items are typically connected to men. They also discovered a bronze mirror and a brooch that had what appeared to be a solar disc motif on it. Typically, a woman would be indicated by these items.
But only one person's remains and a few things were placed in this single tomb. DNA testing techniques, however, were unable to determine the gender of the person buried inside because all that could be seen of the skeleton was a brown soil mark where the body had formerly been lying on its side and only small pieces of bone and teeth.
The sword and mirror found in an Iron Age tomb on Bryher (Image: Historic England)
Years of debate were followed by recent scientific developments, including the creation of a sophisticated approach by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Finally, it was possible to confirm that the individual was a female warrior.
The study's participant, Glendon Parker, an environmental toxicology professor at the University of California at Davis, stated: "Tooth enamel is the toughest and most resilient component in the human body. It has a protein that connects to either the X or Y chromosome, making it possible to identify sex. This is helpful because, in contrast to DNA, this protein survives longer.
"For our analysis, we isolated remnants of proteins from minute fragments of the remaining tooth enamel. As a result, we were able to determine that there was a 96% chance the person was female. It's amazing to have such a good outcome considering how deteriorated the bones are. You start to worry what might be found if you revisit other graves that are in terrible condition.
The results of the study, which were just published in The Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, established the person's gender.
The research conducted by Historic England could reveal more about this person's identity as well as the position of women in Iron Age Britain, a time when intercommunal conflict was common. 2,000 years ago, surprise raids by a war group on hostile towns were probably the primary method of warfare.
The mirror and weaponry discovered in the grave, according to Dr. Sarah Stark, a human skeleton biologist at Historic England, are all connected to battle.
Mirrors served a variety of functional and symbolic purposes during the Iron Age. They might be used to coordinate attacks, communicate, and send out signals. They also had ritualistic purposes, like as 'cleansing' warriors after a raid or using them as a means of communication with the supernatural realm.
The Isles of Scilly can be a mysterious place (Image: Historic England)
Our discoveries present a fascinating opportunity to reexamine this significant burial, according to Dr. Stark. They show that women played a significant role in combat on Iron Age Scilly. The presence of a sword and a mirror in a cemetery suggests this woman had a high rank within her society and may have held a commanding position in local warfare, organizing or leading raids against rival groups, though we can never be fully certain of the symbolism of things found in graves.
"This could indicate that female involvement in raiding and other forms of violence was more widespread in Iron Age society than we've previously believed, and it could have laid the groundwork from which leaders like Boudicca would later emerge," the scholar continued. To find out if there are any additional "hidden" female warriors out there, it would be interesting to re-examine other deteriorated tombs.
Visitors have been enthralled by the mystery that surrounds the sword and mirror, according to Kate Hales, curator of the Isles of Scilly Museum. Knowing that they were interred alongside a young woman is intriguing, and we look forward to retelling her story and speculating about the kind of life she spent thousands of years ago on our now-calm islands.
