A peculiar discovery was made by archaeologists in Mongolia who dug up two skeletons of female warriors from over a thousand years ago, Live Science reports.
According to the media outlet, the warriors apparently lived during the Xianbei period (AD 147 to 552) which gave rise to the story of Mulan, a legendary female character who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army.
As Christine Lee and Yahaira Gonzalez, study researchers and bioarchaeologists from California State University, explained, "it may have been that women were needed to defend home and country alongside the men" during the time period in question.
The examination of the remains yielded “signs suggestive of archery and horseback riding” in case of both ladies, Lee noted.
"They were probably pretty badass. They're doing what the men are doing. So, you can extrapolate from that [and say] that they have some gender equality", she said. “In neighboring China at that time, women were secluded. The ideal woman was helpless and docile, while being in the north [in Mongolia], they're not."
One of the women was apparently older than 50 by the time of her demise, while the other was around 20 years old; both of them likely practiced the aforementioned martial skills because they "were needed during the political instability that following the collapse of the Han Dynasty in China in AD 220", Lee added.
The media outlet also points out that while this research was originally slated to be presented at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists annual conference in April, that meeting got canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.