Hi All,

Last night I watched the PBS program "Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women", which traces the ancient stories of the Amazons, through grave sites in southern Russia, to living people in western Mongolia. It was pretty interesting stuff, and fairly compelling as well, but I only watch a couple hours of TV per year, and have no sense of the quality of information of this series. Has anyone else seen this program (I think it's a couple years old), or have any thoughts on the information presented therein?

The Amazons have always intrigued me, in particular for how various people have envisioned them in their fantasies and stories over the past 2500 years. It was interesting to see something more realistic presented, based on science and actual research.

Hello all!

Eric,

I watched the program about the Amazons when it was first on a few years back. I found it interesting, but the one researcher seemed to have a "one-track" mind and interpreted everything as indicating Amazons. Still, the information seemed to match the bits and pieces of research I've seen regarding the Amazons. I don't have enough knowledge about the subject to say whether or not it was completely accurate, but the quality of the "Secrets of the Dead" shows seems to be a bit above the usual average for a television program. They did seem to have some interesting archaeological finds!

Stay safe!

I haven't seen the program, but reading its summary it sounds fairly solid. Jeannine Davis-Kimball is the author of Warrior Women, which I'd recommend reading if you have a continued interest in the topic.

The discovery of "warrior" graves of women is of course not new, but this interpetation of their contents is. Our view of the past is so very influenced by our view of the present that grave goods and other finds are invariably assigned meanings or uses not in keeping with their actual function or purpose. For a relevant and lighthearted look at this phenomenon I can suggest David Macaulay's Motel of the Mysteries.

Gravesites which have been excavated in Western China and Mongolia, particularly at Xinjiang and the Altai, have yielded red-headed caucasians, women warriors, and evidence of burial practice and ritual previously relegated to myth, as well as upset various "established" timelines for East/West interaction and exchange of culture and technology. Not only has this challenged previously held notions about the past, but in turn, state ideology. It is unfortunate that some, including the Chinese government, have been known to go so far as to destroy mummies and gravegoods which counter traditionally accepted "fact".