Related Resources • Women of 9/11 • Books: Women in Prehistory • Goddesses and Mythological and Legendary Women

From Other Guides • Review, N. S. Gill • Review, K. Kris Hirst

Also From The Author • Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: Review • Black History • Helen Keller • Women and the Last 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Trial • Women's Soccer • RevRus' Star Trek Theology Discussion List • RevRus' Ruminations

Review:
Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines
by Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball with Mona Behan
Warner Books - 2002
(compare prices)

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that a hero is no braver than an ordinary person, but they are braver for five minutes longer. At a time when we are thinking about the heroic women affected by the terrorist acts of September 11th, this is a good read about the search for the history of those earlier brave women known as the Amazons.

Dr. Davis-Kimball is an archaeologist who has worked with burial mounds in Eurasia, Western Chinese deserts and Ireland. In these mounds there are items believed to be needed in the next life. It was expected to be very much like this one.

Such items reveal details about burial, fertility and warrior rites. They have established the actual existence of women previously thought to be only legendary -- the Amazons.

Before you yawn at the idea of a small print, footnote-choked academic tome, consider this: It is finely laid out, well edited and includes both an excellent glossary and index. Better yet, four great stories are told here in less than 250 pages.

There is one telling how women warrior legends are rooted in reality, one about how archeologists really do their work, another about how women in that field have struggled for recognition and finally, the author's own personal struggle to become the woman she is today.

As a result, you get this wonderous Celtic knot of a tale that demands full attention from start to finish.

Some examples: I learned a lot about assumptions made earlier concerning male and female roles when items were found in mounds. One earlier assumption was that when a weapon was found the skelton near it had to be male.

I learned how the high, triangular power-headdresses of warrior/priestesses became the bad witches' hats that have devolved into Halloween costume fame.

This book includes the differences between vertical and horizontal migrations. One is up and down mountains. The other is back and forth across steppes.

There is a story about why finding precious metals in a burial mound is bad news because of security concerns and the likelihood that current governments will melt down ancient items for funds. Part of that story involves Stalin, the Cold War and the Taliban.

She gives an overall picture of how early women warriors -- the real Amazons -- were involved in all parts of nomadic culture, including the defense of their community. That egalitarian participation is the same today for the same peoples.

A year after seeing the bravery of women in the air and on the ground during and after the attacks of September 11th, this is the book to read for the historical precedent of such actions.

A user-contributed article by Rev. Rus Cooper-Dowda

Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines
by Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball with Mona Behan
Warner Books - 2002
(compare prices)