Prehistoric women had stronger arms than today’s elite rowing teams

The first study to compare ancient and living female bones shows the routine manual labour of women during early agricultural eras was more gruelling than the physical demands of rowing in Cambridge University's famously competitive boat clubs. Researchers von der University of Cambridge und der Anthropologe Ron Pinhasi von der Universität Wien say the findings suggest a "hidden history" of women's work stretching across millennia. A new study comparing the bones of Central European women that lived during the first 6,000 years of farming with those of modern athletes has shown that the average prehistoric agricultural woman had stronger upper arms than living female rowing champions. This physical prowess was likely obtained through tilling soil and harvesting crops by hand, as well as the grinding of grain for as much as five hours a day to make flour. Until now, bioarchaeological investigations of past behaviour have interpreted women's bones solely through direct comparison to those of men. However, male bones respond to strain in a more visibly dramatic way than female bones. The scientists say this has resulted in the systematic underestimation of the nature and scale of the physical demands borne by women in prehistory.