ArticleScientific reports2023
Amelogenin peptide analyses reveal female leadership in Copper Age Iberia (c. 2900-2650 BC).
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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11 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the Potential of Ancient Protein Sequences in the Study of Hominid Evolution.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Coupling geometric morphometrics and machine learning for mandibular sex estimation in Late Pleistocene and Late Modern populations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Identification and removal of contamination in palaeoproteomic analysis of dental enamel.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A multi-analytical study of the Montelirio beaded attires: Marine resources, sumptuary crafts, and female power in copper age Iberia.Science advances · 2025Article
- From the jaws of the "Leviathan": A sperm whale tooth from the Valencina Copper Age Megasite.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Hemp Extract (Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Automated High-Throughput Biological Sex Identification from Archeological Human Dental Enamel Using Targeted Proteomics.Journal of proteome research · 2024Article
- Female sex bias in Iberian megalithic societies through bioarchaeology, aDNA and proteomics.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Comparing Walker's (2008) skull trait sex estimation standard to proteomic sex estimation for a group of South Asian individuals.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2024Article
- Unbalanced sex-ratio in the Neolithic individuals from the Escoural Cave (Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal) revealed by peptide analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Given the absence of written records, the main source of information available to analyze gender inequalities in early complex societies is the human body itself. And yet, for decades, archaeologists have struggled with the sex estimation of poorly preserved human remains. Here we present an exceptional case study that shows how ground-breaking new scientific methods may address this problem. Through the analysis of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel, we establish that the most socially prominent person of the Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 BC) was not male, as previously thought, but female. The analysis of this woman, discovered in 2008 at Valencina, Spain, reveals that she was a leading social figure at a time where no male attained a remotely comparable social position. Only other women buried a short time after in the Montelirio tholos, part of the same burial area, appear to have enjoyed a similarly high social position. Our results invite to reconsider established interpretations about the political role of women at the onset of early social complexity, and question traditionally held views of the past. Furthermore, this study anticipates the changes that newly developed scientific methods may bring to prehistoric archaeology and the study of human social evolution.
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