Secrets of the Dead - Amazon Warrior Women Review

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(More customer reviews)This film takes you along an Anthropologists hunt for the descendents of the infamous Amazons, a society of female warriors heralded in ancient literature and art. Follow along as Dr. Davis-Kimball, along with her colleagues, discovers an ancient burial ground in Russia that bears up tall skeletons dressed in gold beads, follow as they extract mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on from mother to daughter down through the generations) from the skeletons, follow as Dr. Davis-Kimball tracks the Amazons through Greek literature and art, and finally follow her to the steppes of southeast Russia to an isolated Nomad family that just might be descended from a small group of the Amazons. These lost Amazons, who were captured by the Greek army and then overtook their captors, found a new land and intermarried with and fought next to the men they found there.
I found very little to criticize about the film. The stories of the Amazons in Greek literature suggested that Dr. Davis-Kimball search out Caucasoid features in the nomadic peoples. And in the film she is surprised when a forensic scientist creates a skeletal reconstruction that looks like no known people and has brown hair. My question is, why does she make such a big deal about the brown hair when the hair color was entirely speculative anyway? In addition, between scenes, there are clips of skinny blond model-like women with swords (it is highly improbable that the Amazons would have been lightly built, as they would not have had sufficient strength for battle). I suppose they were shown as contrast to Davis-Kimball's actual discoveries and as illustrations of the Greek myths, but they were also somewhat distracting from the science of the film.
There is much to learn from this film, from Greek art, to the rarely seen culture of the steppes people, to the ancient topography of the land, to genetics. Being a scientist myself, I can say that the science is superb and it is refreshing to see the mitochondrial (maternal) DNA followed, as another recently popularized researcher erroneously stated that the only way to track human evolution is to follow the Y-Chromosome, only found in men.
The film is not intended to be a thorough investigation into the mythical Amazon culture, but is about discovering the true Amazon women, from whose stature and deeds the myths were borne.


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