Science

Skeletal Evidence Reveals Ancient Egyptian Princesses Were Trained Archers

Buried with bows and daggers for millennia, the royal women of Egypt's Middle Kingdom were long presumed to have received weapons only as ceremonial symbols. A new study of their actual bones tells a very different story.

• Skeletal analysis of five royal women buried at Dahshur around 1850 BCE shows bone adaptations consistent with lifelong archery training and weapon handling.
• Princess Khenmet, who died in her late 30s or 40s, exhibited unusually robust ligament attachments on her upper body — a signature of repeated bow-drawing.
• Princess Itaweret, aged 20 to 34 at death, had survived multiple serious injuries including broken ribs and foot fractures, suggesting an active and physically demanding life.

For decades, archaeologists assumed that the bows, arrows, and daggers placed in the tombs of ancient Egyptian royal women were purely symbolic — status markers for the afterlife rather than tools they had used in life. A study published July 17, 2026 in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology has overturned that assumption.

An international team of researchers re-examined six royal skeletons that had been rediscovered in storage at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 2020. The skeletons originally came from the pyramid complex at Dahshur, south of Cairo, where princesses of the 12th Dynasty (approximately 1985–1773 BCE) were buried.

The scientists employed macroscopic bone analysis, X-ray imaging, and entheseal change scoring — a technique that measures where tendons and ligaments attach to bone. The results showed clear indicators of repetitive mechanical stress on the upper body, shoulders, and arms, consistent with drawing a bow and throwing projectiles.

Princess Khenmet, a woman in her late 30s or 40s, had thinning bones from age but unusually robust ligament attachments. Princess Itaweret, a younger woman, showed healed fractures from broken ribs and foot bones — injuries consistent with falls, kicks, or combat scenarios rather than a sedentary court life. Others in the group showed asymmetrical muscle development in the right arm, a classic signature of archery.

The study's authors note that the findings align with textual and artistic evidence from the Middle Kingdom that occasionally depicted royal women hunting or wielding weapons — evidence that had previously been dismissed as metaphorical or religious in nature. The skeletal data now provides physical corroboration.

These women were not idle figures confined to palace life, the lead author stated. They were trained in archery, likely participated in hunting, and the weapons buried with them were objects they had actually used.

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that gender roles in ancient Egypt were more complex than often portrayed, with elite women participating in activities that required physical skill and strength.