Women in Antiquity

Theoretical Approaches to Gender and Archaeology

By (author) Sarah Milledge Nelson Contributions by Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood, Marie Louise Stig Sorenson, Bettina Arnold, Julia A. Hendon, Wendy Ashmore University of California, Riverside, Janet E. Levy, Suzanne Spencer-Wood, Kathryn Weedman

Publication date:

01 March 2007

Length of book:

324 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

Dimensions:

240x167mm
7x9"

ISBN-13: 9780759110816

Archaeology is one of our most powerful sources of new information about the past, about the lives of our ancient and not-so-ancient ancestors. The contributors to Women in Antiquity consider the theoretical problems involved in discerning what the archaeological evidence tells us about gender roles in antiquity. The book includes chapters on the history of gender research, historical texts, mortuary analysis, household remains, hierarchy, and ethnoarchaeology, with each chapter teasing out the inherent difficulty in interpreting ancient evidence as well as the promise of new understanding. Women in Antiquity offers a fresh, accessible account of how we might grasp the ways in which sexual roles and identities shaped the past.

1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Methods in Feminist and Gender Archaeology: A Feeling for Difference- and Likeness
Chapter 3 Feminist Theory and Gender Research in Historical Archaeology
Chapter 4 Gender, Things, and Material Culture
Chapter 5 Gender and Archaeological Mortuary Analysis
Chapter 6 The Engendered Household
Chapter 7 Gender and Landscapes
Chapter 8 Gender, Heterarchy, and Hierarchy
9 Gender and Ethnoarchaeology
Chapter 10 Feminist Gender Research in Classical Archaeology

A brilliant addition to the archaeological literature. Sarah Nelson has commissioned an international group of scholars to assess the state of gender research in their areas of expertise. The result is a treasure trove of essays devoted to theoretical assessments and case studies involving themes that are central to archaeology, such as early domestication, the secondary products revolution, gender identities, landscape studies, mortuary analyses, and much, much more. These essays introduce new perspectives and future directions for research, thus providing readers with models for developing their own projects. The book is indispensable for anyone with serious interests in the organization of society, divisions of labor, and the social dynamics of the human past.