An artist illustration depicting a female hunter who may have appeared in the Andes 9,000 years ago.
Men stalked game while women collected edible plantsor so the accepted story goes.
A newpaperpublished inScience Advancesupends this accepted division of gendered labor.
An artist illustration depicting a female hunter who may have appeared in the Andes 9,000 years ago. (Photo:Matthew Verdolivo/UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services)
The researchers discovered the young woman’s remains in degraded condition.
Other tests confirmed the remains were female, and that the individual ate meat.
This big-game hunter’s toolkit seems to have been a purposeful inclusion in the grave.
Hunting tools discovered in the burial pit. (Photo:Randy Haas/UC Davis)
Like other grave goods, it likely signals the status of the deceased.
Found nearby was another hunter, a male between 25 and 30 years of age.
They both may have hunted animals such as thevicuna, which still roams the Andes today.
A vicuña in the Andes Mountains. These may have been the prey of prehistoric hunters. (Photo:Stock Photosfrom OLICLIMB/Shutterstock)
These two individuals are the oldest hunter burials discovered in the Americas.
In total, 27 buried individuals could clearly be identified as hunters.
16 were male and 11 female.
In short, something shifted in the gendered division of labor over thousands of years.
it’s possible for you to read the paper inScience Advancesto learn more about this prehistoric female hunter.
Hunting tools discovered in the burial pit.
A vicuna in the Andes Mountains.
These may have been the prey of prehistoric hunters.
