As the many broken, battered bodies recovered from ancient burials can attest, the European Bronze Age was a tough time to be alive. Most historians and archaeologists have assumed these combative societies were led by men. But a new analysis of a richly adorned female ruler buried in a Bronze Age palace suggests women could also occupy the throne. There’s no way to know the true extent of her power, researchers note, but the find could lead others to reconsider their assumptions about the status of women throughout prehistory.