A medieval female warrior was buried with 23 monks: archaeologists were puzzled by the discovery during excavations of a castle in Spain. Photo.

During the excavation of a castle in Spain, archaeologists found a strange burial: the remains of a woman lay next to more than 20 medieval monks. According to scientists, this woman was a warrior and died in battle.

The researchers determined the sex of the female warrior by examining the two most common and reliable parts of the body for determining biological sex: the pelvis and skull. According to the archaeologists, the woman was about 40 years old, Livescience reports.

"We have to imagine her as a warrior of about forty years of age, about one and a half meters tall, not stout, not slender, skilled with a sword," Carme Risseh, a researcher at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the State University of Tarragona and co-author of the study, described the remains.

Archaeologists found the human remains during excavations at a cemetery in the fortified castle of Zorita de los Canes in Guadalajara, Spain. The burials date back to the XII-XV centuries. It was at this time that religious and political conflicts between Christian and Islamic groups on the Iberian Peninsula were taking place.

Not surprisingly, many of the unearthed skeletons bear violent and even fatal wounds. According to the researchers, the skulls and pelvic areas of the Spanish monks showed "a significant number of penetrating stab and blunt force wounds," probably sustained in battle.

Scientists claim that these warrior monks belonged to the Order of Calatrava, which was founded in Spain in 1158. Interestingly, this order was similar to the Knights Templar. It was supposed to defend the city of Calatrava la Vieja, which stretched along the disputed border between Christian and Muslim territories.

The researchers' study says that in the 13th century, local nobility began to provide the order with money and men. Many of the order's recruits, especially the knights and sergeants of the highest rank, were recruited from the lower nobility and city leaders. Although the Knights of Calatrava took a vow of poverty, they regularly feasted.

Analyzing the bones found near the Zorita de los Canes castle, scientists also determined that the monks ate mostly poultry and sea fish. Isotope analysis showed that compared to men, the woman ate much less protein. This suggests that she probably came from a lower social class than the monks.

According to one of the researchers' versions, the woman was a maid in the castle and took up arms to defend it during a battle. However, this hypothesis seems unlikely, as her bones do not show the wear and tear typical of a servant. "I believe that these remains belong to a female warrior. But further analysis is needed to determine to what extent this woman is a contemporary of the other knights," added Karmeh Risseh.

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