If memory serves, the Minoan dig at Knossos (Crete) depicts a lot of female athletes, doing sorta gladiatorial stuff like jumping bulls and the like. During the seventies, there was infact quite a bit of talk that Minoan Crete might have been a matriarchal society, but I can't remember a single cite.
Oh, and while we're on matters historical, has anyone heard anything about a huge, almost humanity-ending cosmic or geological event around 540 AD? Apparently geological and archeological evidence agrees pretty compellingly that 'the dark ages' were introduced by a cataclysmic disaster of some sort. Heard it in a half-sleep, and then heard no more of it.
Cheers, Rob.