gender | Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives

Browsing All posts tagged under »gender«

Ötzi and his kin

August 28, 2010

Science News and Discovery both have publicized a new theory about Ötzi, the famous “iceman” found in the Alps, published in Antiquity. Instead of dying alone after fleeing the person who shot an arrow in his shoulder, researchers now suggest that the body was found downhill from its original burial site, on a formal stone […]

Older women, older men

August 25, 2010

The article on naturenews online is headlined ‘Grandmother Hypothesis’ Takes a Hit. The punchline? researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology constructed computer simulations intended to test University of Utah anthropologist Kristen Hawkes’ decades-old proposal that human longevity is an evolutionary consequence of the adaptive advantage conferred by having older women– “grandmothers”– available […]

Steroid-fueled Neanderthals?

July 7, 2010

Prehistoric man apparently boasted a rock-hard body, including an overdeveloped right arm that would make Popeye jealous. Olive Oyl,your hero is waiting… The best line in this New York Daily News story is this: Simply put, the Neanderthal body was brimming with natural steroids. Really? add a gratuitous reference to “girlie-men”, and the story itself […]

Written in the bones: woman gladiator or upwardly mobile peasant?

July 4, 2010

Or maybe not. The BBC headline blares Female ‘gladiator’ remains found in Herefordshire and the alarm in my head goes off. Are there weapons, are there any of the things specific to gladiators? well, no. So what’s the real story here? The lead: the archaeologists “have found the grave of a massive, muscular woman”. And […]

Egypt’s chief archaeologist: Tutankhamun “was actually well-developed”

July 1, 2010

You have to think that Zahi Hawass will not want to be remembered for this quote, out of everything he has to say about Egyptian antiquities. But when the intersection between archaeology and sex becomes literally the intersection of archaeology and… sex, I am willing to bet that this is one thing Hawass says that […]

Are dead babies good evidence for a Roman brothel?

June 25, 2010

That’s the question raised by a BBC story about analyses of materials from an almost century-old excavation at a Roman villa in the Thames Valley. The data: remains of 97 infants, all of whom died close to birth. The coincidence suggests deliberate killing of newborn babies. Archaeologist Dr Jill Eyers said: “The only explanation you […]

“Lady Di of the 10th century?”: Poor Eadgyth!

June 17, 2010

“She was a beautiful English princess who married one of Europe’s most powerful monarchs and dazzled subjects with her charity and charm.” Thus did AP reporter Raphael G. Satter start a widely-reproduced story in January that the LA Daily News headline writer reduced to “Lady Di of the 10th Century“. (The Huffington Post more soberly […]

Orkney Venus or Westray Wifie: The power of sexual archetypes

June 16, 2010

The daily Scotsman reported on June 15 that “The Orkney Venus has been named in a shortlist of three for the Best Archaeological Discovery category in the 2010 biannual British Archaeological Awards”. The find is truly important: the object under consideration is almost unprecedented in Neolithic archaeology of Great Britain, and is visually striking, as […]

Gladiators, sex, and gender

June 8, 2010

Every so often, an archaeological find helps clarify why it is critical that we ask questions about the differences among people of the same biological sex, and reminds us that an archaeology of sex and gender has to be as much concerned about men as women. The spectacular cemetery in York, England, that has been […]

Transforming archaeology through learning about sex and gender: final reflection papers

May 18, 2010

The final reflection paper, unlike a research paper or project, asked students to integrate what they saw as key themes of the course, relating them to a book they had read independently. While these papers are too long to post in their entirety, it may be helpful to consider what made for an excellent final […]