Gender Archaeology

This monograph analyses human figures that appear in Aegean Bronze Age art, considering the roles and relations between genders, and interpreting differential status or power implications. Susan E. Poole studies a comprehensive range of figures that appear on wall paintings, glyptics (seals, seal impressions and finger rings), and some three-dimensional objects. The gestures and postures displayed in the body language are examined, together with placements and orientations between the figures. The author considers the way figures occupy their surrounding space, possible gender distinct activities, the seating of figures, and processions. A structural iconographic method is used to interpret the material, together with ethological, sociological and linguistic approaches, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis is applied. The research includes a rich corpus of images from a wide range of sources to illustrate observations.

Journée,  Genre et Archéologie, rapports sociaux de sexe dans les sociétés anciennes (CReA , Université des femmes, Bruxelles, 8 0ctobre 2019)
Date. Mardi 8 Octobre 2019

Lieu. ULB – Campus du Solbosch – Local UD2.208 – Bruxelles

PROGRAMME

9h00 : Accueil – Valérie Lootvoet (directrice de l’Université des Femmes) & Sébastien Clerbois (directeur du CReA)
9h30 : Introduction – Isabelle Algrain (ULB – Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique)
10h00 : L’apport de l’archéologie aux études de genre – Chloé Bélard (University of Southampton)

10h30 – 11h00 : Pause-café

11h00 : Approche archéo-anthropologique d’ensembles funéraires : question de sexe biologique ou de genre? – Alexandra Boucherie (ULB)
11h30 : Perspectives de genre dans le monde nord alpin aux âges du Bronze et du Fer – Caroline Trémeaud (Université Paris I)
12h00 : Femmes, textiles et travail de tissage dans les sanctuaires grecs – Vicky Vlachou (École française d’Athènes)

12h30 : Lunch

14h00 : Tombes féminines dans la Macédoine archaïque : genre, statut social et l’illusion biographique – Vivi Saripanidi (ULB)
14h30 : Une préhistoire du sein en Mésoamérique : entre fécondité, maternité et domesticité – Estelle Praet (University of Cambridge)

15h00 – 15h30 : Pause-café

15h30 : Les discriminations sexistes en archéologie, du terrain à la recherche : histoire et enjeux – Laura Mary (Association Archéo-Éthique/Projet Paye ta Truelle)
16h00 : Conclusions – Valérie Loonvoet (directrice de l’Université des Femmes) & Sébastien Clerbois (directeur du CReA)

Session #752
GENDER IN MOVEMENT
Theme: The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Author: Dr TREMEAUD, Caroline (France) - UMR 8215 TRAJECTOIRES
Co-Author(s): Dr BELARD, Chloé (France) - UMR 8546 AOROC; Dr KOCH, Julia (Germany) - Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel
Keywords: gender, sex, mobility, migration, methodology

abstract:
Gender Interpretations of Mobility In Iron Age Archaeological Record

The starting point of this presentation is the recurrent gendered interpretations of mobilityin the past: women would have mostly moved because of marriage, and men for war.However, to what extent these assumptions can be proved from the archaeological record? How migration can be concretelytraced and interpreted?
Using several cases studies of the Iron Age, the aim of this paper is twofold:1) deconstructing gender stereotypes in order to question mobilityand its social motives; and 2)questioning how to perceive mobility through archaeological data.
Thus on the one hand, this paper will question the archaeological evidences used to conjure up mobility. For instance, it is still mostly assumed that a foreign bodily ornament or weapon buried with a dead person indicates his/her foreign root, but foreign ceramics is not usually used in that way. Similarly, foreign artefacts in a “simple” grave will lead to the idea of a “foreign person”. However, it is not the same with foreign artefacts in Iron Age “princely” burials. Very different archaeological approaches of buried foreign objects exist in order to prove mobility, depending on the nature of objects and funerary contexts. It is critical to analyse them in order to question their validity.
On the other hand, this paper will question traditional interpretationsof women and men mobility.It will emphasize how using a gendered approach could change and renew some hypothesis. They cannot be assumed anymore if they are not based on archaeological and anthropological proofs, the rise of DNA analysis becoming a significant part of this new approach.

Gender transformations in prehistoric and archaic societies
March 8, 2018 - March 10, 2018
Kiel University
Olshausenstrasse
Kiel, SH 24098 Germany

Sponsored by: Kiel University, Germany, CRC 1266 “Scales of Transformation: Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies”
8, Kiel)

During the Late Bronze Age to La Tène B, in north-alpine societies, we see a multiplication of elite’s graves. These ones, characterized by an impressive funerary hoarding and so called “princely graves” ask a lot of questions about hierarchisation, status of these individuals and social structures. These questions are supported by a key issue: how deal with the funerary data to express the wealth notion?
Such an approach needs to take into account the difficulties to estimates values. In preliterate societies, emic approach is not possible; the etic approach is the only one. Thus we need to develop methodological tools in order to class graves against each other.
The focus of my presentation will be to present a methodology developed during my PhD of ranking funerary data, so as to detect social structures. This work is based on a database from more than 1000 graves with 721 elite’s graves, from Late Bronze Age to La Tène B, spread over north-eastern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Bohemia, which allows multivariate statistics.
The ranking approach depends on a method of weighting graves, to reveal wealth and characterize graves to each other. This method necessitates estimating value of each grave (grave good but also architecture and location), and so applying an emic framework to funerary data. I want to have a critical look of this analysis grid used to value graves, in order to see the validity and the impact on multivariate statistics developed after.
In fact this method shows possibilities for looking beyond the binary understanding of societies (elite vs. non elite). These more forensic, qualitative approaches make it possible especially to develop a gender approach and a characterization of social structures and their evolution on a long term perspective.

The study of the elite’s graves allows me to develop a twofold reflection: ranking and gender issues.
The study is based on a corpus of more than 700 graves, spread over north-eastern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Bohemia and the statistical analyses highlighted different ranking patterns inside the north-alpine complex. These regional specificities will be presented and questioned in order to examine supra regional networks and the significance of funerary data.

L’étude  du corpus des sépultures de l’élite permet de développer une double approche, sur deux aspects connexes : la problématique de la hiérarchisation et la question de la définition du genre.
L’analyse statistique de plus de 700 de ces sépultures – réparties sur le nord-est de la France, la moitié sud de l’Allemagne, la Suisse, l’Autriche et la Bohême, du Bronze final au milieu du second âge du Fer – a mis en évidence des dynamiques de hiérarchisation différentes entre les différentes parties du monde nord-alpin.
Ces particularités régionales seront donc présentées et questionnées pour interroger l’existence de réseaux supra-régionaux, tout en examinant la pertinence des données funéraires pour une réflexion à une telle échelle.

Based on a data analysis of elite graves in the North-Alpine complex, this paper has a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it presents methodological tools to define archaeological gender from funerary data, a basis for developing gender approaches and raising specific research issues. This requires a theoretical presentation of the
different dimensions of gender, in order to establish methodological tools and characterise archaeological gender. Methods using statistical analysis are then detailed. On the other hand, it presents results in terms of change in gender relations and suggests theoretical interpretations. The gender analysis of elite graves from the Late Bronze Age to La Tène B in a part of the North-Alpine complex, namely, north-eastern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Bohemia, shows interesting results. This wide study area and its dataset of more than 800 graves enable a long-term approach to shedding light on gender differences in funerary practices.
The results show specific changes and enable me to question the concept of gender, not only in its archaeological definition, but also as a system of domination and differentiation, which implies issues relating to wealth, status, social organisation and hierarchy. Indeed, the funerary data highlight the reality of ‘great women’, and the cross analysis proposed here shows an engendered evolution of the elite.
This evolution is linked with the supremacy of females in terms of the possession of wealth, raising the issue of the significance of this female wealth. The results also show regional diversity, which raises question about the durability of gender structures, their origin, and their implications.

By reflecting on how our own perspectives influence the data we collect and the questions we ask, bioarchaeologists are positioned to move the approach to understanding humans into new areas. In this chapter, we examine social hierarchy at the height of the society identified as the “Chaco Phenomenon” in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest (AD 900–1300). Traditionally, research on the development and maintenance of social complexity during this period has focused on the role of males, especially higher status or elite individuals. Females have often been relegated to the role of mother, laborer, or captive. However, gender roles in the past, like today, were fluid and relational. The health and status of the females from several archaeological sites (i.e., Black Mesa, La Plata, Kin Bineola, and Room 33 at Pueblo Bonito) are reanalyzed to highlight the complex and nuanced roles that both males and females likely played in these communities. This study interrogates the way that questions about the “Chaco Phenomenon” have been framed and what this implies about the kinds of data that have been collected and interpreted.

Gender, together with style, religion and landscape, is one of the most popular topics in rock art studies. This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the subject. It is not a work of research but a book which seeks to summarise the state of play.. The account of gender in North American rock art (with some forays into rock art traditions elsewhere in the world) in Chapters 4 to 8 is undoubtedly the best part of the book. The information provided is fascinating because of its complexity, its erudition and its sophistication. The author’s knowledge of a vast range of relevant literature is most impressive on issues such as the relation between rock art and fertility shrines, authorship, life cycles, puberty rites and ritual landscape. Most of the information given is related to ethnographic sources, effectively bringing out the challenges their use entails in the interpretation of rock art. This book will have a significant impact on the field of North American rock art studies and will become a standard work of reference and point of departure for much future scholarship.

Introducción La educación es uno de los mejores medios de transformación social, y se suele acudir al sistema educativo cuando se identifican problemas, injusticias o necesidades, reclamando una mayor atención a aspectos tan dispares como la alfabetización, la violencia, la sostenibilidad, la preparación profesional, en idiomas, en habilidades so-ciales e incluso en estimulación emprendedora o conocimientos financieros. Cierto es que no se puede atribuir a la educación formal toda la responsabilidad de la educación de la ciudadanía. Corresponsables somos las familias, los medios de comunicación y cualquier persona que conviva habitualmente con los menores, y más aún las personas profesionales de la educación con mayor preparación: maestras y maestros, profeso-rado y educadores de los ámbitos formales, no formales e informales. 1. Planteamiento del problema Uno de los mayores problemas a los que nos enfrentamos actualmente en nuestra sociedad es la desigualdad por razón de género, que llevamos arrastrando desde hace milenios pero que se ha manifestado de forma distinta en diferentes culturas, en el tiempo y en el espacio geográfico. En el caso de los museos arqueológicos y etnológicos, la cultura material en general incorpora elementos muebles e inmuebles que son restos de actividades hu-manas. Por lo tanto es de esperar que tanto la actividad de unos como de otras se encuentre recogida en la visión que se ofrece de la sociedad de cada época; una in-terpretación basada en información científica. Cabe recalcar que aunque se trata de información contrastada, la investigación también se orienta en función de las preo-cupaciones de cada época y hasta hace bien poco las mujeres estaban prácticamente ausentes de los intereses de los investigadores. Por otro lado, existe un sesgo rela

Resumen: el papel activo del género femenino en las diferentes etapas cronológicas está siendo ampliamente estudiado en la actualidad a través de conceptos como «identidad relacional» o «actividades de mantenimiento» y de investigaciones enfocadas hacia la transmisión oral, el ámbito privado o la vida cotidiana en disciplinas como la Arqueología, la Historia o la Musicología. Esta comunicación aplica esta metodología a un estudio del mundo musical ibero desde la perspectiva de género, que analiza la posición de la mujer en ese entorno a través de diferentes ejemplos materiales –atendiendo a su estudio formal, así como al contexto arqueológico en el que aparecen– procedentes de Sant Miquel de Llíria, Serreta de Alcoy, L´Albufereta, Cigarralejo, Cabecico del Tesoro y Osuna. Partiendo de las interpretaciones que de estos materiales se han realizado tanto en sus correspondientes memorias arqueológicas como en publicaciones posteriores que establecen una relación directa entre mujer ibera y transmisión oral a través de la música, se propone un análisis que ayude a comprender las funciones musicales desempeñadas por el género
femenino como actividades relevantes y determinantes para el desarrollo y la perpetuación de la cultura íbera. Ese mismo modelo podrá contribuir a la comprensión de las sucesivas explicaciones que se dieron de los materiales estudiados desde las primeras apariciones (auletrís de Osuna de Sevilla en 1903) hasta las más recientes (terracotas de l´Albufereta en Alicante y el Cigarralejo en Murcia).
Abstract: the active role of the female gender in the different chronological stages is being widely studied at present through concepts such as «relational identity» or «maintenance activities» and also through research focused on oral transmission, the private sphere or daily life in disciplines such as Archaeology, History or Musicology. This communication applies this methodology to a study of the Iberian musical world from the perspective of gender, which analyzes the position of women in that environment through different material examples –attending to both their formal study, and the archaeological context in which they appear– from Sant Miquel de Llíria, Serreta de Alcoy, L’Albufereta, Cigarralejo, Cabecico del Tesoro and Osuna. Starting with the interpretation of these materials presented both in their archaeological memories and in subsequent publications which establish a direct relationship between Iberian women and oral transmission through music, this paper proposes an analysis with the purpose of understanding the musical roles performed by the female gender as relevant and determining activities for the development and perpetuation of the Iberian Culture. That same model may contribute to the understanding of the successive explanations given of the materials studied from the first appearances (auletrís of Osuna de Sevilla in 1903) to the most recent (terracotas de l’Albufereta in Alicante and the Cigarralejo in Murcia).

Archaeology of Death E-learning

Dear Colleagues,
As the Covid-19 safety measures are limiting our communication, please use the following web link to download presentation of the Archaeology of Death course.
https://cuni.academia.edu/JanTurek/Teaching-Documents
Since the lesson 4, that we have already missed I include much more texts and references, so you can use it as e-learning material.
Let’s hope we are going to have chance to catch up with the lectures later the spring term.
Meanwhile stay safe
and
Good luck!

Sincerely
Jan Turek
Center for Theoretical Study


The lecture provides a basic overview of the theory and methodology of the study of funerary areas, burial contexts and social and symbolic perception of death in prehistoric societies. Through the archaeological evidence of funerary rituals will be presented not only prehistoric people's attitudes toward death and the afterlife but also their culture, social organization, symbolic systems and cosmology. The focus on archaeology of personhood will be targeted mainly on the analysis of age and gender categories. Introductory topics summarize the methodology of field and laboratory research of funerary data in archaeology including application of scientific methods, spatial analysis of burial data and palaeodemography. In the interpretation section of the course an attention is also paid to the social and ritual significance of death and the transformation of human understanding of mortality. We are going to focus on case studies from different periods and locations throughout the world from Palaeolithic to the rise of historical societies. Case studies will further shed light on the social interpretation of burial data and their use in reconstructing social relationships, and will present significant discoveries. The end of the course is devoted to the ethics of the archaeological research of funerary and the political and ethical controversies surrounding human remains. This lecture is designed for audience among archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and others who have a professional interest in funerary evidence, or general curiosity about past death and burial.

Die Erforschung und Bewertung der Quellen zu weiblichen Gottheiten der europäischen Vorgeschichte sind ausgesprochen heterogen. In der archäologischen Forschung werden die Vorstellungen von Göttinnen stark von schriftlichen Überlieferungen meist aus einer historisch späten, patriarchal strukturierten Entwicklungsphase wie der griechischen Klassik und der römischen Kaiserzeit geprägt. Zudem haben sich im Laufe des 20. Jahrhunderts teilweise stark überzeichnete Bilder von Göttinnen etabliert, die ihren Weg über die (prä-) historischen wie außeruniversitären „Mythenforschungen“ bis zur Entstehung neuheidnischer Kulte fanden. Die Grundlagen für die Rekonstruktion antiker Kulte wie für die Entstehung neuheidnischer Verehrung einer „Großen Göttin“ werden hier kritisch auf der Basis archäologischer Quellen diskutiert.
„Prähistorische und antike Göttinnen“ ist aus den Beiträgen der Jubiläumstagung „20 Jahre FemArc-Netzwerk archäologisch arbeitender Frauen“, im Jahr 2011 in Kooperation mit den Städtischen Museen Heilbronn veranstaltet, hervorgegangen.

Mit Beiträgen von
Reena Perschke, Lene Os Johannesson, Robert Fleischer, Karina Iwe, Milica Tapavički-Ilić, Rachel Kousser, Susanne Moraw, Anja Hänsch, Meret Fehlmann und Jutta Leskovar.