Oops! Ancient Bronze Age shaman long assumed to be a man was actually a woman, DNA reveals

An Early Bronze Age metalworker and shaman discovered over 200 years ago in a lavish burial near Stonehenge and long assumed to be male was actually female, a new genetic analysis reveals.

The results of the ancient DNA analysis of the "Upton Lovell Shaman," carried out by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London, break the previously held stereotype of Early Bronze Age women, according to a statement from the Wiltshire Museum, where the remains and grave goods are housed.

"It completely tears up previous assumptions," David Dawson, director of the Wiltshire Museum, told The Guardian. "We're so used to the assumption [that] men do everything, men are the leaders, men are the metalworkers. Here we have smoking gun evidence of a female metalworker. And metalworking was the space science of its day."

The nearly 4,000-year-old burial was unearthed in 1801 near the village of Upton Lovell, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Stonehenge. The human remains were surrounded by an unusually rich tool kit containing stone axes, metalworking implements with traces of gold on them, a touchstone for testing metal purity by comparing streaks left by different metals, and pierced animal bones that were likely once sewn onto a garment as decorations, hinting at a ceremonial cloak.

The mix of high-status metalworking tools and objects thought to have ritual significance led archaeologists to interpret the individual as a spiritual specialist, earning the remains the nickname, the "Upton Lovell Shaman."

William Cunnington, the English archaeologist who excavated the burial mound, known as a barrow, noted at the time that, "from the largeness of the bones," the burial "appeared to be a stout man," according to the statement. For the next two centuries, the individual's assumed sex was male, with its museum display depicting a bearded male figure.

The DNA analysis was originally intended to trace the individual's ancestry, but the results showed sex chromosomes of XX, instead of XY, catching the researchers off guard. To be certain, the team tested DNA from a tooth and a toe — and got the same answer each time, with no evidence that the grave held more than one person, according to the statement.

Other clues in the skeleton revealed more details about the individual. She stood around 5 feet, 4 inches (165 centimeters), which was unusually tall for a Bronze Age woman, and died at about age 45. She was robustly built, with arthritis in her right wrist but not her left ‪—‬ a pattern that fits years of the repetitive work with metalworking tools, the statement reported.

A 2022 study found that the individual was likely a skilled goldsmith who fashioned gold ornaments. This ability may have seemed magical during the Bronze Age, Susan Greaney, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter who wasn't involved in the study, told Live Science at the time.

"The ability to transform other objects by the delicate and skilled process of covering them with gold sheet may have been seen as a magical or ritual process, a secret method known only to a few people," Greaney said in a 2022 email. "This research shows how metalworking was closely related to magical, ritual and religious beliefs."

This is not the first time an ancient elite individual has been mistakenly identified as male. For instance, an elite person from Sweden's Viking Age who was buried with weapons and strategy games was thought to be male but was later verified to be female, and a high-ranking individual from Copper Age Spain was thought to be male until a DNA analysis showed they were female.

"We now have a whole new understanding of this burial, rewriting their story, breaking stereotypes, and putting women front and centre in our understanding of early Bronze Age society," Lisa Brown, curator of the Wiltshire Museum, said in the statement.

The findings will be unveiled Thursday (July 16) in a new exhibition on ancient DNA, "We Go Way Back," opening at the Francis Crick Institute.