Archaeologists Have Discovered the Skeletons of ‘Badass’ Warrior Women in Mongolia, Dating Back to the Period of Mulan

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of what appear to be
two 1,500-year-old warrior women in northern Mongolia, near the
Chinese—the kind of fighters that may have inspired the story of
Mulan.

The graves date to the fourth or fifth centuries, a time period
marked by political unrest and associated with the rise of the
legend of Mulan, the ancient Chinese folk legend about a woman who
disguises herself as a man to take her father’s place in the army
and ultimately serving with distinction.

Close study of the skeletons suggests that the women, one about
20, the other over 50, were skilled at archery and had extensive
experience on horseback. Both had signs of trauma on their spine, a
common injury among riders, and there were indications of
repetitive motion of the thumbs, as one would see in archers.

The two possible warrior women were buried in a cemetery at the
Airagiin Gozgor archaeological site, in northern Mongolia’s
Orkhon province. The women belonged to the Xianbei people, who
dominated the region from 147 to 552.

The tale of Mulan is often thought of as a Chinese story, but
there are clues that point to the possibility of Mongolian origins.
First, she was fighting for the khan, the title for Mongol leaders.
And although Mulan stepped up so her father could avoid the draft,
China didn’t have military conscription. The likely explanation is
that China developed a written language earlier than the Mongols,
transcribing a tale that originated in the country to its south,
where women may have played a very different role in society.

“In neighboring China at that time, women were secluded. The
ideal woman was helpless and docile, while being in the north [in
Mongolia], they’re not,” one of the bioarchaeologists who made the
discovery, Christine Lee, told Live Science. “They’re
doing what the men are doing. So, you can extrapolate from that
[and say] that they have some gender equality.”

“It may have been that women were needed to defend home and
country alongside the men,” reads the abstract for the paper
by Lee and her colleague at California State University,
Yahaira Gonzalez.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan, starring Liu Yifei in
the title role, was set to debut in March, but was pushed back as
movie theaters across the globe shuttered. Currently, the studio is
aiming for a July 24 opening for the film, should social distancing
guidelines allow.

Lee plans to continue her search for the tombs of Mongolian
female fighters, examining some that date as far back as 2,200
years old, she told Science News.
“Badass women may go back a long way in northern Asian nomadic
groups.”

The post Archaeologists Have Discovered the Skeletons of
‘Badass’ Warrior Women in Mongolia, Dating Back to the Period of
Mulan appeared first on artnet News.