"We used to assume that the Amazons were legendary despite accounts by the ancient Greeks which placed them somewhere in Asia Minor. The Greeks were fascinated and horrified by the stories of such unnatural women, who were reputed to cut off their breasts in order to pull their bows better and to cripple their own male children. The Amazons were said to have fought successfully in battle against men until the right order was at last restored and they were defeated. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that the Amazons were not a fable believed by the ancient Greeks. Since it is now possible for archaeologists to determine the sex of skeletons, a lot of what had been assumed to be male warriors have had to be reclassified as women. Among the nomadic horse-riding warrior peoples from the steppes whom the Greeks called Scythians women appear to have been the equals of men, even when it came to fighting, and in death they lie with their weapons. Perhaps as many as 37 per cent of Scythian burials are of women warriors. Tombs of Viking women warriors from a later period have been found as well."