Female Burials with Weapons: Realities of Life or a Reflections of Social Identity? (Based on Materials of the Sargat Culture)

ABSTRACT Burials of women with objects of weaponry are a pan-cultural phenomenon for the societies of the steppe and forest-steppe zone of Early Iron Age Eurasia. This article is dedicated to a systematization and interpretation of female burials with weapons of the Sargat culture of Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The inclusion of Sargat data in the general context of the development of the livestock-breeding societies of Eurasia allows us to expand our knowledge of ancient social structures and of women’s positions in those societies.