You Should See Her in a Crown. Now You Can See Her Face.
The New York Times
New research is solving mysteries linked to the La Almoloya burial site and revealing a genetic history of an ancient European people.
This year, archaeologists announced the discovery of a remarkable, 3,700-year-old double burial in Murcia, Spain. Skeletons of a man and a woman were draped in silver — earrings, bracelets, rings and, most notably, a silver diadem that had once gleamed on the woman’s head.
The burial site, and particularly the crown and other fineries interred with the woman, hinted at a premodern European culture in which women might have held considerable power. The skeletons were unearthed in a large ovoid jar in La Almoloya, a key settlement of the El Argar culture, which is one of the earliest examples of a society in Europe with a ruling bureaucracy, geopolitical boundaries and other hallmarks of an advanced state.
Although the gender politics of El Argar continue to be debated, a pair of complementary research projects are solving mysteries at this burial site. One has given faces to the woman, the man and others buried at La Almoloya, while the other is filling out an intriguing genetic history for the El Argar people.
