Gender Archaeology Research Articles

Gender Identity and Mortuary Analysis in Prehistory

The social-constructionist understanding of gender as the cultural elaboration of sex has been criticized by third-wave feminists for its propensity to essentialize gender and its adherence to a binary, two sex/two gender model. Despite challenges to this hegemonic stance, gender archaeology has yet to become an integral and assumed part of archaeology’s foundational principles and remains at the periphery of disciplinary research. As such, the assumption that this heteronormative framework is both universal and natural remains well entrenched in archaeological mortuary analysis. It is the goal here to deconstruct this familiar and comfortable paradigm and expose the presentism that perpetuates it. As prehistoric graves pose the greatest challenge in assigning gender identities, lacking written documentation and cultural narratives that aid interpretation, the focus here will be to address the challenges of decrypting gender identities in a prehistoric context.

Dental proteomic analyses and Raman spectroscopy for the estimation of the biological sex and age of human remains from the Greek cemetery of San Giorgio Extra, Reggio Calabria (Italy)

Sex and age estimation is one of the most fundamental steps in mortuary studies and bioarchaeology. It is essential for a deeper understanding of ancient societies, and has wide applications in gender archaeology. The aim of this paper is to create a new and reliable protocol for unambiguous sex estimation of the deceased, comparing proteomic analyses, archaeological evidence, and anthropological data from a Greek cemetery located in Reggio Calabria (or the ancient Rhegion), as well as a first approach to estimate the age of the deceased by Raman spectroscopy in archaeology. Excavations carried out in the San Giorgio Extra district, headed by the Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Calabria during the years 2004 and 2007, led to the discovery of the most significant Hellenistic cemetery in the city. Specifically, archaeological campaigns brought to light thirty Greek inhumation burials and their related funerary objects. Through proteomic analyses, we monitored a total of eight characteristic peptides for the amelogenin isoform variants AMELX and AMELY from the dental enamel of twelve selected adult individuals. The presence or absence of the AMELY variant (exclusively present in male subjects, being encoded by the Y gene) allowed us to estimate the sex of the analyzed individuals with high accuracy. Raman spectroscopy was also applied to study the enamel and dentin crystallinity to determine other environmental and biological parameters. At the same time, archaeological studies based on artifacts discovered inside the graves and double-blind bio-anthropological sex estimation of the twelve subjects were performed in order to compare these evaluations with data from the proteomic analyses. Comparison between these different approaches produced totally congruent results for the majority of individuals. In addition, the proteomic analysis allowed us to estimate the sex of four poorly preserved subjects for whom sex estimation was somewhat doubtful, as well as that of one undetermined individual. Finally, proteomic results were produced here with a faster protocol than those found in the literature and are potentially scalable to much lower sample amounts.

Gender Archaeology of Ao Fengshan Cemetery in Jianchuan, Yunnan Province

Gender Archaeology of Ao Fengshan Cemetery in Jianchuan, Yunnan Province

Interdisciplinary approaches in Roman Family Studies: heuristic potential and possible limitations

Family relations are the basic "structures of everyday life" and therefore act as part of the macro-context of the life of the past. In addition, it is within the framework of the institution of the family that the gender roles of a certain society, its economic and cultural traditions and norms are most clearly manifested. Therefore, by studying family relations in the multi-ethnic military community of the Roman Empire, we have the opportunity to eventually get information about various layers of culture of the Roman civilization. Nevertheless, the versatility of such a subject of research requires a special approach and new methods in the study. The article uses the example of three disciplines — gender archaeology, historical demography and the history of emotions — to prove the need for an interdisciplinary approach in the study of the ancient Roman family. The object of the research is significant scientific works for these disciplines. The subject of the study is the methodology of these works. The author considers the fundamental works (p. Alison, T. Parkin, K. Kreineker) of the named directions, examples of studies are given in which the methods developed in key works were successfully used, shortcomings and possible limitations of each direction are identified separately and ways to overcome them with the help of interdisciplinary synthesis are proposed. The novelty of the research lies in the appeal exclusively to modern foreign historiography and new directions of historical science. The author comes to the conclusion that the interdisciplinary approach allows overcoming the limitations set by the source base, building new hypotheses and generally contributes to the increment of historical knowledge in the field of the study of the ancient Roman family.

A social history of the Avars: Historical and archaeological perspectives

AbstractThe Avars have been recently been of some interest to historians, but only from a political point of view, given that the written sources cover almost exclusively only the first century of Avar history. Comparatively less attention has so far been paid to the social organization of the Avar qaganate. Archaeologists, on the other hands, are now in a privileged position, as the quantity of material culture evidence has grown exponentially over the last decades or so. However, even the archaeological approach to social history is marred by serious problems deriving from the slavish application of a model of analysis first promoted by Gyula László. That model is based on dubious ethnographic parallels and does not account for the variety of situations within the Avar qaganate either in chronological or in geographical terms. Most archaeologists concerned with the analysis of cemetery sites (which produced the bulk of the evidence under discussion) still maintain that Avar society was divided into lords, middle class and commoners. New excavations, but especially new techniques (such as those associated with bioarchaeology) have slowly, but steadily eroded the simplistic model advanced by László and his students. A review of the most recent archaeological literature reveals a shift towards an intepretation that takes into account the staged representation of status in death, and therefore privileges the symbolism of the artifacts associated with social rank. “Princely burials” are now regarded as a sign of political and social crisis, and weapon burials have by now received a much more sophisticated interpretation largely inspired by gender archaeology.

Islands of fertility: a multispecies ethnography of human-termite interactions and their implications for human ecology and the archaeology of gender in the tropics

ABSTRACT Using multidisciplinary literature, this paper takes a multispecies approach to human-termite interactions across the tropics to demonstrate how termites exploit ecological effects of human behaviours and in turn provide humans with significant ecosystem services. These provisions are deeply entangled within cultural practices and ideologies. Conceptualisations of human and landscape fertility, and the role of termites in facilitating life, create gendered interactions that are manifested in ecological knowledge and praxis relating to termites and termite mounds. The strong association between termites and farmers in particular, may offer insights into past human settlement patterns and their relationships with ecosystems. This paper proposes the use of geomorphology, thin-section ceramic petrography, and stable isotope analysis to investigate these relationships across the tropics. A multispecies approach creates new possibilities for a diachronic understanding of human ecology and raises important questions for the Anthropocene and the future of farming in the tropics.

Arqueologia de gênero e o estudo das mulheres romanas

A Arqueologia de Gênero se consolidou como campo de estudo no século XX, em meio às ações feministas que atingiam as ciências humanas, bem como pelo desenvolvimento da corrente pós-processualista na Arqueologia. A partir do estudo das fontes arqueológicas dentro dessas perspectivas, compreendeu-se que as subjetividades femininas foram diversas ao longo do tempo, e que nem sempre houve aceitação passiva à lógica patriarcal, argumento até então ditado pelas correntes cientificistas modernas. Destaca-se a importância da cultura material para a construção dos saberes sobre as mulheres romanas, haja vista que as pesquisas clássicas se mantiveram, por muito tempo, permeadas por perspectivas masculinizantes. Para tanto, é trazida uma seleção de pinturas parietais da cidade de Pompeia, as quais demonstram papéis e vivências desenvolvidos pelas mulheres romanas que se desvinculem de uma leitura estritamente patriarcal da antiguidade.

Missing prehistoric women? Sex ratio as an indicator for analyzing the population of Iberia from the 8th to the 3rd millennia B.C.

In the last few decades, archaeology has undergone a profound transformation. The inclusion of techniques from a wide range of other sciences, as well as the specific contribution of physical anthropology, genetics, and paleodemography using the analyses of human remains, has enabled the reconstruction of some key aspects of past populations such as mobility, diet, physical activities, and health status. In addition, the emergence of gender archaeology has led to a great renewal in how societies in the past are conceptualized and approached. Although the gender approach completely relies on the accuracy of the method used for estimating the sex of individuals, the increasing number of publications on this issue rarely focuses on the criteria on which these results are based. The aim of this paper is, firstly, to present the anthropological data available for the Iberian Mesolithic, the Neolithic, and the Copper Age (8th–3rd millennia B.C.) and the analysis of this from the perspective of the “sex ratio.” This demographical indicator has allowed us to detect a higher proportion of male individuals than female ones in most of the sites analyzed. Secondly, the different causes of this systematic disproportion (cultural, methodological, and biological) are discussed, concluding that the methodological bias in favor of males presented in research over 40 years ago still exists.

Heaney’s Hauntings: Archaeology, Poetry and the ‘Gendered Bog’

ABSTRACT In this paper we discuss the entangled relationship between literary creation, archaeology and representations of gender in the poetry of Seamus Heaney, in particular the ‘bog poems’ The Tollund Man and Bogland. We trace the early formative connections between the poet, peatlands and ‘bog body’ research, in which both literary critical and archaeological scholars have analysed themes including ‘the bog as archive’, theory and practice of archaeology and the process of poetic creation and imagining in Heaney’s writings. We discuss archaeological perspectives on Heaney’s poetry, and outline literary critique that has problematised the representation of gender in the ‘bog poems’. Finally, we consider the poem Bogland and read this through the lens of Irish peatland archaeology, in particular its destruction by industrial peat extraction. To conclude, we reflect how Heaney’s poetry as a form of archaeological knowledge and narratives must continue to be subject to ‘excavation’, contextual readings and critique.

10. Expoloring Age - Transition Analysis as a Tool for Detecting the Elderly

The growth of gender archaeology has improved the inclusion of female and juvenile narratives in archaeological discourse, enabling us to better understand interactions between groups defined by both social and physiological differences. There has been a notable absence of elderly in research, however, that is not simply a question of attitudes but of methodological limitations. The emergence of biostatistics has offered novel ways to combat common issues such as age mimicry and avoid the problematic nature of culturally loaded descriptive terminology. A test performed on Transition Analysis by Boldsen et al. (2002), generates individual age estimates, which allow for better differentiation between individuals and age groups, such as the ‘45+ older adults’. Further research into biostatistical methods will not only improve objectivity but bring much-needed attention to the elderly, including their narrative into the investigation of family dynamics and adult-juvenile interactions.

Gender Inequalities in Neolithic Iberia: A Multi-Proxy Approach

Gender archaeology approaches to Iberian late prehistory have experienced a significant growth in the last two decades. However, much of the work undertaken has focused on specific aspects of the archaeological record (rock art, burial practices), particularly from the Bronze Age and Iron Age periods for which the evidence is more readily available. In addition, it has tended to be regional or local in scope. Here, we attempt an empirically robust multi-proxy approach to the development of early gender inequalities in Neolithic Iberia. Inspired by Gerda Lerner's ideas on the origins of patriarchy and based on a systematic collection of data analysed by means of significance testing, we present the first comprehensive study of gender dissymmetries in Iberian prehistory. Our conclusions suggest that, first, the multi-proxy method used has potential for the systematic study of gender inequalities on the basis of archaeological data and, second, that the Neolithic witnessed emerging gender inequalities that set the basis for male domination in later periods.

From the Editor: A Return to Beginnings

Next article FreeFrom the Editor: A Return to BeginningsStephanie L. BudinStephanie L. Budin Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreWhen G. Ernest Wright first established this publication in 1938 it was known as The Biblical Archaeologist, and it focused primarily on excavations in the so-called Holy Land. In the decades since this popular publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research has expanded its focus considerably, reaching out to regions from Spain to Afghanistan (Punic to Persian, if you prefer), and accordingly changed its name to Near Eastern Archaeology.In many ways this issue is like a return to beginnings. For Near Eastern Archaeology, this special topics issue focuses on the precise content with which the publication first launched—the Land of the Bible—only now with a half century’s more data and theoretical support. The subject matter is itself focused on beginnings, for here we examine in depth the period when the political entity known as the Kingdom of Israel first came into being. From a designated ethnic group (not landed people) recorded in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele of 1207 BCE, Israel emerged onto the Near Eastern political stage in what is now dubbed Iron Age I (ca. 1200–1000 BCE). By the ninth century, this kingdom could raise a cavalry capable of challenging some of its greatest rivals of the day, Aram-Syria to the north, Assyria to the east (the latter did not turn out so well).How, then, did this tiny region of highlands and fertile plains go from a people without a land to a military powerhouse, and one whose religious traditions continue to influence the modern world? The articles that follow explore this question. We begin with Finkelstein’s article on the analysis of the past two decades of archaeological excavation in Israel correlated with modern theory and biblical texts. Fleming and Monroe next consider the history and uses of the name “Israel” and how it evolved with its people in near eastern historiography and epigraphy. Both Gadot and Sergi deal with the ongoing matter of population continuity in the region of ancient Israel. How accurate were the (mutually exclusive) biblical accounts of Joshua and Judges? Did the ancient Israelites violently invade the land formerly known as Canaan? Was it a peaceful, slow infiltration? Neither of the above? Was there, instead, simply continuity from the Bronze Age? In the midst of this study comes the work of Sapir-Hen, who takes up the age-old question of what, exactly, can we really learn about pig bones in the ethnic milieu of (supposedly kosher) Israel. Weingart’s contribution once again brings us back to beginnings, considering the biblical origin tales for the rise of Israel, and with them what became the rise of biblical archaeology.Speaking of beginnings, please allow me this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Stephanie Budin, the new editor of Near Eastern Archaeology. I am an ancient historian by training, with interests in the Near East, Cyprus, and the Aegean, from the Bronze Age into the Classical period. Several years ago I had the great good fortune to co-guest edit the special topics issue on gender archaeology, which brought you female farm hands, macho eunuchs, and somewhat ambivalent cult functionaries. If you are reading this, you are probably not one of the people who wrote in to complain and cancel your subscriptions when that one came out. So, thank you for staying with us! I hope to continue the fine work of my predecessor Thomas Schneider in bringing you interesting and up-to-date articles on the lands of Akhenaten and Aštart, Omri and Ashurbanipal, and perhaps the occasional Anatolian archer and artisan.The guest editors for this special topics issue are Dr. Omer Sergi and Prof. Yuval Gadot, whose introduction to the issue can be found on pages 5–7.All Best Wishes for 2019!Stephanie L. Budin Next article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Near Eastern Archaeology Volume 82, Number 1March 2019The Rise of Ancient Israel A journal of ASOR Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/703317 Copyright 2019 American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Archaeological Demography as a Tool for the Study of Women and Gender in the Past

In the last 20 years, demography has re-emerged as a key research area within archaeology. This research has refined archaeological demographic methods and examined the relationships between demographic, cultural and environmental change. Here, I discuss how the results of the growing corpus of archaeological demographic studies can contribute to gender archaeology, aiding the incorporation of women into narratives of the past. By considering the important role of women in the demographic regimes of small-scale societies, I explain how archaeological demography can provide insights into the behaviour and lives of women, without relying on the often problematic identification of gendered artefacts, activities and/or places. Archaeological demography as a tool for gender archaeology also permits a move away from the female empiricism of simply adding women into archaeological narratives, to provide an alternative framework for the analysis of gender roles and practices. I demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of this approach using an example from the Upper Palaeolithic of southwestern France.

BECOMING GENDERED IN EUROPEAN PREHISTORY: WAS NEOLITHIC GENDER FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT?

It is notable how little gender archaeology has been written for the European Neolithic, in contrast to the following Bronze Age. We cannot blame this absence on a lack of empirical data or on archaeologists’ theoretical naïveté. Instead, we argue that this absence reflects the fact that gender in this period was qualitatively different in form from the types of gender that emerged in Europe from about 3000 cal BC onwards; the latter still form the norm in European and American contexts today, and our standard theories and methodologies are designed to uncover this specific form of gender. In Bronze Age gender systems, gender was mostly binary, associated with stable, lifelong identities expressed in recurrent complexes of gendered symbolism. In contrast, Neolithic gender appears to have been less firmly associated with personal identity and more contextually relevant; it slips easily through our methodological nets. In proposing this “contextual gender” model for Neolithic gender, we both open up new understandings of gender in the past and present and pose significant questions for our models of gender more widely.

What knowers know well: standpoint theory and gender archeology

Neste artigo, argumento que – ao expor o androcentrismo do sistema referencial de suposições consideradas como óbvias e levantando a questão da confi abilidade de normas entrincheiradas de justifi cação – a arqueologia de gênero é mais bem entendida como uma forma de construtivismo social relutante. Ela expõe inadvertidamente a contingência de compromissos fundacionais, do conteúdo e da prática, que se presumiu serem neutros com respeito aos interesses situados dos praticantes, contextualmente independentes e trans-historicamente estáveis. Mas longe de minar fatalmente a objetividade do empreendimento, argumento que essas implicações mais radicais da arqueologia de gênero ilustram o valor da análise construtivista social como um recurso epistêmico. Deve-se atentar para o papel epistêmico positivo que ela pode ter como catálise para os tipos de crítica transformadora que são essenciais para o bom funcionamento da ciência. Argumento que um compromisso com a análise construtivista em curso deveria ser um componente central das concepções procedimentais da objetividade que levam a sério a necessidade de mobilizar ao invés de marginalizar os diversos recursos epistêmicos dos conhecedores situados

Reading the Bible as a Feminist

This work provides a brief introduction to feminist interpretation of scripture. Feminist interpretation is first grounded in feminism as an intellectual and political movement. Next, this introduction briefly recounts the origins of feminist readings of the Bible with attention to both early readings and the beginnings of feminist biblical scholarship in the academy. Feminist biblical scholarship is not a single methodology, but rather an approach that can shape any reading method. As a discipline, it began with literary-critical readings (especially of the Hebrew Bible) but soon also broached questions of women’s history (especially in the New Testament and Christian origins). Since these first forays, feminist interpretation has influenced almost every type of biblical scholarship. The third section of this essay, then, looks at gender archaeology, feminist poststructuralism and postcolonial readings, and newer approaches informed by gender and queer theory. Finally, it ends by examining feminist readings of Eve.

Foodways Archaeology: A Decade of Research from the Southeastern United States

Interest in the study of foodways through an archaeological lens, particularly in the American Southeast, is evident in the abundance of literature on this topic over the past decade. Foodways as a concept includes all of the activities, rules, and meanings that surround the production, harvesting, processing, cooking, serving, and consumption of food. We study foodways and components of foodways archaeologically through direct and indirect evidence. The current synthesis is concerned with research themes in the archaeology of Southeastern foodways, including feasting, gender, social and political status, and food insecurity. In this review, I explore the information that can be learned from material remains of the foodstuffs themselves and the multiple lines of evidence that can help us better understand the meanings, rituals, processes, and cultural meanings and motivations of foodways.

Introduction to “Binary Binds”: Deconstructing Sex and Gender Dichotomies in Archaeological Practice

Gender archaeology has made significant strides toward deconstructing the hegemony of binary categorizations. Challenging dichotomies such as man/woman, sex/gender, and biology/culture, approaches informed by poststructuralist, feminist, and queer theories have moved beyond essentialist and universalist identity constructs to more nuanced configurations. Despite the theoretical emphasis on context, multiplicity, and fluidity, binary starting points continue to streamline the spectrum of variability that is recognized, often reproducing normative assumptions in the evidence. The contributors to this special issue confront how sex, gender, and sexuality categories condition analytical visibility, aiming to develop approaches that respond to the complexity of theory in archaeological practice. The papers push the ontological and epistemological boundaries of bodies, personhood, and archaeological possibility, challenging a priori assumptions that contain how sex, gender, and sexuality categories are constituted and related to each other. Foregrounding intersectional approaches that engage with ambiguity, variability, and difference, this special issue seeks to “de-contain” categories, assumptions, and practices from “binding” our analytical gaze toward only certain kinds of persons and knowledges, in interpretations of the past and practices in the present.

The Archaeology of Gender in Historic America by Deborah L. Rotman. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015. 192 pp.

The Archaeology of Gender in Historic America by Deborah L. Rotman. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015. 192 pp.

Review: The Archaeology of Gender in Historic America by Deborah L. Rotman

Review: The Archaeology of Gender in Historic America by Deborah L. Rotman