Ancient Egyptian princesses actually knew how to use the weapons they were buried with, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
Any doubts around the women's prowess with the weapons – which include daggers, bows, and maces – have been quashed by a new analysis of the princesses' long-lost mummified remains.
[...] Then, in 2020, Zeinab Hashesh, an archaeologist at Beni-Suef University in Egypt, rediscovered the remains: King Hor and Princess Noub-Hotep, Princess Itaweret, Princess Khenmet, Princess Ita, and another female skeleton whose identity remains unknown. [...]
They were buried with a powerful arsenal of weapons, traditionally associated with males – something that really confused French egyptologists back in 1894 – and which archaeologists have continued to dismiss as "purely symbolic or 'votive' tokens for the afterlife," Hashesh said.
There's plenty of evidence the princesses knew how to use them, based on the state of the muscle attachments on their bones, and the signs of injuries these women sustained in life.
The princesses' bones developed to sustain heavy muscle use that corresponds directly to the weapons that were found buried with them in their tombs. For instance, Princess Noub-Hotep and the king both have the kind of robust muscle attachments you see in skilled archers.
"We found pronounced development in the upper limbs of these individuals, which correlates to repetitive, high-intensity actions like pulling a bowstring or stabilizing a weapon, proving these activities were habitual throughout their lives," Hashesh says. [...]
"Princess Ita was a young woman aged between 28 and 34 with strong upper-body muscle attachments, suggesting she habitually used weapons like maces or daggers," says Hashesh.
"Princess Khenmet was a woman in her late 30s or 40s who showed signs of thinning bones, but had very robust ligament attachments. Princess Itaweret was a young woman aged between 20 and 34 who survived broken ribs and foot fractures; her skeleton shows she was a skilled archer."
"Far from leading sedentary lives of luxury, they were well-conditioned athletes and skilled practitioners of archery and martial arts hunting. In the elite sphere of Dahshur, these princesses were viewed as active ritual agents. They were not imitating men; rather, their royal blood and their role in the 'machine for surviving death' required them to be disciplined, powerful actors capable of wielding skilled force," she said.
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