This is coolbert: Interesting program on PBS last night about the Amazons. Women warriors generally considered to be mythological.

Woman archeologist on the program is of the opinion that these myths are based upon real fact. And is attempting to back up her belief up with evidence.

Almost all known about the Amazons is from the writings of Herodotus. Wrote his accounts of the Amazons around 400 B.C. Describes the Amazons as being tall blonde women, warriors, living in the area beyond the world known to the Greeks at the time. This area has usually been assigned to be the area north and east of the Black Sea.

Herodotus describes an encounter the Amazons were supposed to have had with the Achaean Greeks at the time of the Trojan War. I do not think this account is backed up with anything contained in the Iliad. Herodotus describes the Queen of the Amazons leading a contingent of women warriors to relieve the siege of Troy at the behest of Priam, King of Troy. This contingent fights the Greeks, the Queen of the Amazons being killed in single mortal combat with Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Achaeans. The remaining Amazons were captured by the Achaeans and put on a boat to be sent to Greece. These captured Amazons rebelled, killed the crew of the boat they were on, and then drifted aimlessly in the Black Sea, as they did not know how to sail the boat. [interestingly enough, the same thing used to occur during the African slave trade. Slaves on a slave ship would from time to time revolt, kill the entire crew, and then drift aimlessly, as they did not know how to sail the ship. Eventually, the rebelling slaves would starve to death, and the ship would just drift, sometimes not found for years later!!]. According to legend, it is said that this drifting ship finally came ashore somewhere on the coast of the Black Sea, the surviving Amazons escaping to become the ancestors of the Sarmatians.

It is a fact that a nomadic tribe called the Sarmatians did live in the area north and east of the Black Sea over two thousand years ago. This tribe was a horse culture, and it's decorative motifs are well known.

On the PBS program, a kurgan [burial mound] is excavated. This kurgan contained the remains of what was described as a priestess-warrior. This was a woman from a horse culture [anthropologists can determine this from looking at the deformities in certain bones of the body], a priestess [she was buried with a bronze mirror, supposedly a sign of a priestess?], and she was a warrior [buried with iron arrowheads].

From other archeological digs, bones were found that yielded DNA that was readily subject to analysis. The idea was to find modern people that matched the DNA found in the ancient remains.

And a modern people was found that are believed to have the ancestry of the Sarmatians inside of them. Nomadic Kazakhs [in a previous blog I have mentioned that the modern word "cossack" and "kazakh" is perhaps derived from the same word] living in the area of the Altai mountains live a lifestyle resembling to this day what the Amazons are thought to have led. These Kazakhs still use design motifs almost identical to those used by the ancient Sarmatians.

A particular Kazakh girl, nine years old, was chosen to donate a DNA sample [swabbing the inside of the mouth], in an attempt to match the living girl's DNA to that of the DNA of the priestess-warrior from two thousand years ago. This girl was chosen specifically as while she had obvious Mongoloid features, she also had blonde hair.

And the analysis of the DNA from the two thousand year old priestess-warrior and the blond Kazahk girl was done and found to be a match. A match that was exact in a manner that amazed even the persons doing the analysis. This sort of match is normally unheard of.

To the woman archeologist, this is just absolute conclusive proof that these Kazakhs are the descendants of the ancient Amazon woman warriors. I am not so convinced. This is just not conclusive enough. Much more evidence would have to be had. And this is just a start. But is such evidence obtainable. Perhaps not. Much more archeological evidence will have to be uncovered. And this takes a lot of time. What is available is just not enough! To me, this is all interesting speculation, and at this point, that is all that it is, speculation!

[A recent article in the National Geographic speculated that the Scythians also had woman warriors. Perhaps this kurgan was the burial mound of a woman priest-warrior of the Scythians, not an Amazon?].

[This same DNA testing could be used as a means of determining the validity of the claims of those persons in China who allege to be the descendants of Roman mercenaries. DNA testing has previously been used to determine that the kshatriya class in India is of Indo-European origin, as was widely believed by many authorities].

coolbert.