Trans Burials and the Nature of Writing History
Important ideas to remember when writing history
Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time.
-Fredrick Jackson Turner
This essay is not about trans rights or validity. It’s about how we write history.
When the Spanish conquistadors were making their way through South America, they found a tribe of people called the Muisca. The Muisca would often cover their leaders in gold dust and float them out to the middle of Lake Guatavita where they would make a religious offering.
The Spaniards believed these people had so much gold that they threw it away. It was so abundant that it was effectively worthless to them. The Spanish imprinted their monetary value in gold onto the Muisca. Gold held value for the Muisca, but a ceremonial and religious value, not a monetary one.
Recently, an ancient burial site was discovered near Prague, Czechia. In the grave a male skeleton was buried lying on his left side, facing the east. With him were household jugs and an egg-shaped pot. This position and items are commonly associated with female burials in this particular group. Men are buried on their right, facing the west, with weapons.
Researchers and archaeologists jumped to the conclusion that this particular person might have been gay or even transgender.
And I get it.
We live in a time rife with questions and arguments about gender and sex. It makes sense that academics would immediately jump to the idea that this skeleton belonged to a gay or transgender person. But we are applying our present to their past.
It’s still entirely possible that the person was gay or transgender. We will never know for sure, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise to come up with some alternatives. We are imprinting our present and arguments about gender on a completely separate group of people, like gold and the Muisca.
Similar groups often bury shamans or religious figures in similar positions. However, as the excavator, Katerina Semradova, argued, shamans were buried with nicer items. Not just pots and a jug.
I know nothing about this tribe of people. The group is called the Corded Ware culture and existed 4,000–4,500 years ago. I do want to make a guess, and I do want to admit that I could be wrong.
What if the burial was an insult or punishment? One last emasculation to send a man into the afterlife. A punishment for cowardice or some other forgotten crime. Sure, the person is dead, but their family will know, and to the Corded Ware people, it will surely have connotations in the afterlife.
Or maybe he was a shaman, and at this time, this particular tribe didn’t have the means to give him a lavish burial.
When archaeologists dig up the graves of trans people in the future, we have no idea what they will believe. They may have the records and frame of reference to know who these people were, or maybe they won’t, and they’ll make guesses informed by their present.
We imprint our present onto the past, the future, and other people all the time. It’s what we are wired to do.
Talking about historical biases is an important exercise in history, so it’s important that we also examine our biases.