Rewriting Prehistory and Honouring Women of the Ice Age

The Gravettians left no written records, since writing systems would not be developed for tens of thousands of years after their era. As a result, what we know about their lives and the roles women might have held comes only through a patchwork of archaeological evidence—burials, ornaments, art objects, artefacts, and even genetic traces.

However, the researchers who first discovered and analysed most Gravettian burials were almost exclusively men, and their interpretations often reflected male-centred or patriarchal biases. Many archaeologists assumed that prehistoric skeletons in graves of significance must have belonged to a man. This belief was so entrenched that when important burials were uncovered, they were quickly classified as male simply because their contents suggested power, status, or martial ability.

This was the case when, in 1872, French archaeologist Emile Rivière led a team that made a sensational discovery in the Caviglione Cave near the French-Italian border: a skeleton adorned with a headdress of seashells and deer teeth, surrounded by horse bones, engravings and stone weapons.

The Upper Palaeolithic burial was promptly transported to Paris and displayed as the 'Man of Menton' to the public.

For decades, the remains were assumed to be male based on society’s male-dominated perspective.

However, a woman named Marie-Antoinette de Lumley, herself a researcher, recognised the ancient skeleton’s pelvic structure as female and prompted her husband, Professor Henry de Lumley, to reexamine the remains. The skeleton was eventually reclassified as the Lady of Cavillon (or the Lady of Caviglione)—a revelation that fundamentally upended earlier assumptions about gender roles in prehistory.

Gravettian Women: Rewriting the history books

The rediscovery of the Lady of Cavillon’s identity not only helped reshape common assumptions about gender in prehistory among researchers - it also illuminated the truth about the essential roles women played at the time.

Far from being passive, Gravettian women were often community leaders, spiritual figures, and huntresses—forces at the heart of the first human societies.

The Lady of Cavillon's final resting place was perfectly arranged: her body lay on its side, encircled by a ring of artefacts and cloaked in red ochre. The care taken in her burial, from her elaborate shell-and-tooth headdress to the symbolic placement of horse bones and stone tools, shows her high status within the community.

Her headdress, woven from over 200 shells bordered with deer teeth, the placement of horse bones, a bone awl beside her face, and other symbolic items all point to a ceremonial burial of profound spiritual significance. These features point to a woman likely revered in life, perhaps as a spiritual leader, shaman, or healer in her Gravettian community.

Some scholars also believe the cave itself functioned as a sacred site of worship for ritual and community gatherings.

Professor Henry de Lumley wrote of the Lady of Cavillon:

“This woman certainly occupied an important role in society. When she died at the age of thirty-seven, she was buried magnificently — not everyone was buried so royally. At the entrance to the Cavillon Cave, this lady was given a very elaborate funeral rite involving horses. An awl made of horse bone had been placed in front of her face; above the burial site, a pendant carved from a horse’s metapode (foot bone) was found; 1.60 metres above the ground, a magnificent horse had been engraved on the cave wall.”

Rewriting the history books about our prehistoric ancestors

 

The legacy of male-centred perspectives on gender roles is persistent in academic research, from the selection of sources and artefacts to the framing of historical narratives and even the language used in analysis.

However, things are changing. Since the late twentieth century, feminist archaeology and gender studies have challenged those ingrained biases, bringing to light the diversity and complexity of women’s roles in past societies and questioning long-held stereotypes.

A 2012 study found that 75% of the cave art found in Europe had been left by women, not men, as was earlier theorised. Previously, researchers had assumed that the handprints found alongside images of wild animals or female genitalia must have been created by men as a reflection of their hunting activities or sexual interests. However, new analysis of finger length ratios and hand shapes demonstrated that women were, in fact, the main contributors to this beautiful art.

Studies, as highlighted in the book Lady Sapiens by Thomas Cirotteau, Jennifer Kerner, and Eric Pincas, reveal how crucial women were to Palaeolithic society. This research not only challenges outdated stereotypes but also demonstrates women’s vital and diverse roles—as creators, toolmakers, healers, spiritual leaders and seers, and even hunters.

While the full story of Gravettian women like the Lady of Cavillon remains elusive, the confirmation of her gender—she was a woman—adds to this growing body of evidence.

With more women entering the field and new interpretive frameworks being applied, research has begun to uncover material evidence of female agency, leadership, and social power that was previously overlooked or dismissed- helping rewrite our collective understanding of women’s roles in ancient society.

Sources

Lady Sapiens by Thomas Cirotteau, Jennifer Kerner, and Eric Pincas

National Geographic: “In France, Prehistoric Women Had Equal or Higher Status Than Men, Study Finds” (July 2020)

Smithsonian Magazine: “Why Archaeologists Are Suddenly Finding Rituals and Human Burials at Sea” (March 2021)

Ancient Origins: “The Lady of Cavillon: A 27,000-Year-Old Gravettian Burial in France” (May 2016)

ScienceDirect: “The Menton burial: A new radiographic and morphometric study of the Gravettian burial from the “grotte du Prince” (French Riviera)” (December 2011)

Clottes, J. (2010). The Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times. University of Utah Press.

Marshack, A. (1991). The Roots of Civilization: Cognitive Beginnings of Man’s First Art, Symbol, and Notation. McGraw-Hill.

O’Connor, S. (2014). Animals as Neighbors: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals. University of Arizona Press.

VanPool, C. S., & VanPool, T. L. (2008). Death, Mortuary Ritual, and Natufian-Specific Mortuary Behaviors. In Before Farming 2008/4 article 5.

Zilhão, J. (1997). The Chronology and Taphonomy of the Earliest Aurignacian and Its Implications for the Understanding of Neanderthal Extinction. Journal of World Prehistory, 11(2), 165–198.