Archaeologists came across an interesting find this week in the Poltava region of Ukraine. They uncovered the skeletal remains of a Sarmatian warrior woman in a burial mound in the area. Sarmatians were a Persian warrior clan of nomads who frequently traveled between the Caspian plains to the Ukrainian steppes after the Scythian state collapsed. The nomadic Sarmatian women were huntresses and warriors and frequently battled on horseback with their husbands and they are the ones ancient Greeks may have been referring to as the ‘Amazons’.
Sarmatian women were traditionally buried with more artifacts and items than their male counterparts and the formation of bones of some of the skeletons previously found in Ukraine, Russia, and just over the Kazakhstan border is indicative of life on horseback. Burial of Sarmatians started in the area around 400 B.C. The remains found in Poltava indicate that the woman was of some importance and possibly an influential figure in her day. She was buried with a large number of artifacts that included a dagger, iron scissors, bronze mirror, and silver broach. The skull was found with an iron awl in it although there has been no word whether or not this was the cause of death.
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