A new study reveals that a medieval woman was buried alongside 23 warrior monks in Spain.
During the excavation of a castle in Spain, archaeologists made a surprising discovery: a woman buried with over 20 medieval monks. A new study suggests that this woman may have been a warrior who died in battle.
A skull recovered from Zorita de los Canes with a penetrating wound. (Photo: Dr. Carme Rissech, Professor of Human Anatomy and Embryology).
Co-author of the study Carme Rissech, a researcher at the Basic Medical Sciences Department at the American Medical University, stated: “She appears to be a warrior around 40 years old, standing about 1.5 meters tall, neither robust nor slender, and skillfully wielded a sword.”
The burial dates from the 12th to the 15th century, a time of complex religious and political conflicts between Christian and Muslim groups on the Iberian Peninsula.
According to research recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, many skeletons excavated from a cemetery in the fortress of Zorita de los Canes in Guadalajara exhibited severe – even fatal – injuries, including a significant number of penetrating wounds and blunt force trauma to the skull and pelvic region.
Based on the analysis of the woman’s remains, it appears she died in battle like the monks, as her bones showed no signs of healing around the wounds.
These warrior monks belonged to the Order of Calatrava, established in Spain in 1158. This order, similar to the Knights Templar, was tasked with protecting Calatrava la Vieja, a city along the disputed border between Christian and Muslim territories.
Researchers determined the sex of the female warrior by examining the pelvis and skull, two of the most common and reliable body parts for establishing biological sex.
By analyzing the isotopes or different nitrogen variants in the bones from Zorita de los Canes, scientists also found that the monks’ diet was rich in poultry and seafood, favored by the Iberian social elite and affordable.
The study’s authors noted: The high consumption of fish indicates that the monks adhered to religious restrictions regarding meat.
Compared to men, this woman consumed significantly less protein, as isotopic analysis showed. This suggests she may have come from a lower social class than the monks.
One hypothesis suggests that the woman was a servant in the castle who took up arms to defend it in battle, which ultimately led to her death.
However, her bones did not show the wear characteristic of a servant’s remains, leading researchers to believe she could indeed be a female warrior.
