Women in prehistoric times were as diverse, important and relevant as they are today.
Well, they are not represented there.
In order to continue justifying inequalities, the story was built in the 19th century that women in prehistory had a secondary role, and that story has been maintained throughout the 20th century.
Are archaeologists dismantling this story?
Yes. When women were introduced to archeology in the 1980s, they asked different questions and revised the answers given.
With what result?
The denial of women in certain activities that are considered very important such as hunting, art or war turn out to have no scientific basis.
Did women hunt?
We found burials of women with weapons associated with big game hunting. One in Peru brought to light the issue, a woman of 18 or 19 years was found buried with the set of weapons for big game. When they analyzed all the graves with weapons from the same period they realized that up to 30% are of women.
Nowadays, do women hunt in ethnographic societies?
Yes. Societies that still live in a very primitive way in sub-Saharan Africa or in certain parts of Asia, women hunt today.
Is there no scientific reason why women didn’t hunt?
No. And if it can be said that they hunted, the same goes for rock art. Artistic creation has been understood as the summation of the symbolic and thought and, therefore, has been attributed to men.
Without any evidence?
indeed However, there is clear evidence that women painted: fingerprints, women’s hands… This was the form of expression of the whole group.
Did the archaeologists deduce that because they hunted, they painted the animals?
Yes, but you don’t need scientific evidence to say that. However, if you say that women paint, you must have your fingerprint because if you don’t, you will be questioned.
Still today?
Yes. In the area of ​​the Cantabrian ledge and in the south of France up to 60% of the hands in the caves are women.
This is strong evidence.
They also took part in violent conflicts, as has been documented in Bronze Age graves, some 3,000 or 3,500 years ago, throughout Central Europe.
explain it to me
They are graves of very young women buried with weapons, with arrows, with shields and whose bodies bear the marks of battle: defensive wounds, stuck arrows, cranial trauma.
Were societies egalitarian in the Paleolithic?
Totally. When agriculture and animal husbandry starts, they start to take an interest in reproductive control because they need more labor, and that’s where this application of women to care begins.
Before the children were from the tribe.
In Paleolithic populations yes, in production populations, no. In fact, many of the collective graves, which were like that, you can already see that some are buried with possessions and others not: the distinction of classes begins.
Was the cosmovision of the world female in prehistory?
Yes, because the reproduction of plants and animals is at the basis of their survival. Throughout the Paleolithic, where the most important caloric contribution came from harvesting, the relationship with nature is unique, we have never had it again.
They were environmental experts.
They knew the life cycles of all plants and animals, and since the reproductives are the females, they understood the feminine as an element of special spiritual value.
Did matriarchy exist?
We have no scientific evidence for it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, and there is a clear recognition and worship of the feminine.
There are those who say that the statuettes of Eve were sex toys for men.
They were deities, nothing to do with Paleolithic pornography and similar barbarities that have been said. There are also engravings full of vulvas and it was said to be for the enjoyment of men, like the Playboy of the time.
It doesn’t seem to make much sense.
None, because we are transferring to prehistory concepts from the 20th century that cannot be applied even to the 15th century.
Women were travelers.
In the Bronze Age they traveled a lot and with them knowledge and technology, and they did it alone. Thanks to the new analytics we see that there are a lot of powerful women moving around Europe.
