THE MYSTERY The Ivory Lady

Illustration of how the Ivory Lady may have looked
by Miriam Luciañez Triviño

When a history-making Copper Age burial was unearthed in southern Spain in 2008, the world was stunned by the incredibly beautiful – and utterly unprecedented – artifacts found in the tomb of the so-called ‘Ivory Man.’ But fifteen years later, the archaeology world would be rocked by an even more astonishing discovery – that 5,000-year-old Ivory Man was actually an Ivory Lady!

Archaeologist Marta Cintas Peña helps us dig into this remarkable ‘prehistorical mystery.’

Illustration of the two levels of the Ivory Lady’s tomb
by Miriam Luciañez Triviño

Illustration of the items found in the Ivory Lady’s tomb
by Miriam Luciañez Triviño

Illustration of the artifacts found in the “offering level” of the tomb
by Miriam Luciañez Triviño

Marta Cintas Peña is a lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Seville, Spain. Her research focuses on the analysis of gender differences and social complexity in Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula, a subject she addressed in her doctoral thesis (Gender inequality in Iberian Prehistory: a multi-variable approach), as well as in numerous other publications.

Music featured in this episode included:

“The Temple of the Mind” by I Think I Can Help You

“Jomon Grove” by The Mini Vandals

“Creep” by Emmet Fenn

“Sleep No 1” by Chris Haugen

“Angelic Forest” by Doug Maxwell

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