Twice as many women as men: mysterious cemetery of more than 55,000 human remains unearthed in Spain
A team of researchers has made a remarkable discovery in the megalithic necropolis of Panoria in Spain. In the mysterious cemetery of more than 55,000 human remains, they found twice as many women as men.
And the difference was even more pronounced among minors, where the ratio was simply staggering - 10 girls for every boy. This raised questions about the demographics of the ancient region, Arkeonews reports.
The interdisciplinary research team, led by the archaeometry group from the University of Tübingen and the GEA group from the University of Granada, focused on analyzing the bone remains found in nine graves of this necropolis.
The Panorama Necropolis is located at the eastern end of the Sierra Harana, in the city of Darro (Granada). It consists of at least 19 mass graves in which more than 55,000 human skeletal remains have been found.
The mass graves contain mostly women's remains.
Source: M. Díaz-Zorita Bonilla et al.
Dating of these remains shows that the first burials took place 5600 years ago with intermittent funerary use until 4100 years ago.
The research team's attention was most drawn to the bias in the gender ratio. The researchers suggested that prehistoric society likely had a female-centered social structure, with burial customs predominantly determined by the maternal line.
The results of the study indicate a complex social structure where gender is the main factor in determining a person's chances of survival in this part of the Iberian Peninsula.
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