Researchers find evidence women did metalwork in Bronze Age

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Archaeologists believe that they have found the remains of a woman metal worker from the Bronze Age, a discovery that challenges ideas about the division of labour in prehistoric times.
She was buried with an anvil, hammers, flint chisels and some small pieces of dress jewellery.
Scientists say that the choice of funeral artefacts points to her having been a fine metal worker – the first indication that women did such work thousands of years ago.

Proto-feminist: The artifacts found in the grave of this woman in Austria are the first indication that women did such work thousands of years ago.

They are confident that the skeleton is female, despite the fact that the pelvic bones are missing, and say she was between the ages of 45 and 60 when she died.
She would have lived in the Bronze Age, which began more than 5,000 years ago and marked the first time metals were regularly used in the manufacture of tools and weapons.

 Ernst Lauermann, director of the prehistory department at Austria’s Museum of Ancient History, said: ‘It was normal in those days for a person to be buried with the items that were part of their daily working lives.’

He added that the tools found would have most likely been used in the making of jewellery.
Another 14 graves in the same site at Geitzendorf, north-west Vienna, are being studied by museum staff.

Craftsmanship: A bronze spearhead found in Britain. The museum's discovery may debunk the idea that woman did not engage in metalwork thousands of years ago.

British experts, however, urged caution last night. They said that while it was common for objects to be placed in Bronze Age graves, their significance is unknown.
Professor Sue Hamilton, of University College London, said: ‘We shouldn’t presume a one-to-one relationship. Maybe her father was a metal worker or she herself was a metal worker.’
Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine, said: ‘Sometimes the objects could relate to the individual’s profession but they could equally be there because they looked good or were put into the grave by relatives and didn’t belong to the individual.’
Metal working across all ages and cultures has traditionally been seen as a male occupation and, in some cases, female participation has even been taboo, he added.
‘Past that, smithing can be a strenuous, physical, manual occupation. It is very macho, with fire and fireworks and magic involved,’ he said.