Ambiguous Images: Gender and Rock Art

by Kelley Hays-Gilpin

Overview

What does rock art say about gender and how can our understanding of gender shape the way that we view rock art? A significant contribution to the relatively unexplored field of gender in rock art, this volume contains a wealth of information for archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians interested in past gender systems. Hays-Gilpin argues that art is at once a product of its physical and social environment and at the same time a tool of influence in shaping behavior and ideas within a society. Taking this stance, rock art is shown to be very often one of the strongest lines of evidence avaliable to scholars in understanding ritual practices, gender roles, and ideologicial constructs of prehistoric peoples. Subsequently issues of representation and the people who made these forms of art are also discussed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759115934
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	11/19/2003
Series:	Gender and Archaeology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	998,501
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Kelley Hays-Gilpin teaches archaeology, ceramic analysis, and a rock art course at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, just hours from Petrified Forest National Park and her favorite rock art. She received her PhD in anthropology at the University of Arizona in 1992, then worked for the Navajo Nation Archaeology Department for several years. She has co-authored books on prehistoric sandals of northern Arizona and pottery of Arizona's Puerco Valley, and co-edited the Reader in Gender Archaeology with David S. Whitley. Current projects include collaboration with the Museum of Northern Arizon, Harvard Peabody Museum, and the Hopi Tribe on the Southwest Mural Project, a multidisciplinary study of 15th-17th century dry fresco painting from the Puebloan region.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 List of Figures
Chapter 2 Foreword
Chapter 3 Preface
Chapter 4
Chapter 1: Rock Art and Gender on the Margins
Chapter 5
Chapter 2: Recognizing Sex and Gender
Chapter 6
Chapter 3: Engendering and Degendering Paleolithic Europe's Cave Paintings
Chapter 7
Chapter 4: Regendering Fertility Shrines in the West
Chapter 8
Chapter 5: Separate Spheres: Who Made Rock Art?
Chapter 9
Chapter 6: Lifecycles and Puberty Rites
Chapter 10
Chapter 7: Maidens and Fluteplayers in the Southwestern United States
Chapter 11
Chapter 8: Sacred Landscapes and Social Landscapes
Chapter 12
Chapter 9: Women, Men, Ritual and Rock Art
Chapter 13
Chapter 10: Shamans with History
Chapter 14
Chapter 11: Taking Rock Art Seriously
Chapter 15 References
Chapter 16 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Written in an engaging style that will appeal to non-specialists, it is a thoughtful example of feminist archaeological scholarship that demonstrates many of the congributions of gender-sensitive research.

Journal of Anthropological Research

Like the other books in this series, this one creates new paths for others to follow. Kelley Hays-Gilpin doesn't cut the path with a machete, however, but with a scalpel and a fine sensibility for detail. She dispassionately probes the explanations that have been put forward about gender and rock art, and without posturing shows better ways to think about both topics and to discriminate between more and less likely interpretations...The reader has in hand a wise guide, a thoughtful analysis, and a good read.

From the Foreword

Ambiguous Images is a timely volume in which Kelley Hays-Gilpin covers a wide range of issues as she challenges popular and past stereotypes about rock art and gender—topics she describes as often marginal to the archaeological community. Yet perceptions of sex and gender affect social processes, life cycles, politics, economics, religion, and world views. Drawing on rock art throughout the world, Hays-Gilpin points the way and lays out routes for the dynamic use of rock art imagery as a creative avenue of discovery into richly gendered worlds of the past. This is an exciting addition to the fast-growing literature on gender in archaeology.

Polly Schaafsma

...presents new avenues for research. Her writing style is clear, and the bibliography is valuable for students of archaeology and rock art. Recommended.

Choice Reviews - T. A. Foor

Recommended to those interested in rock art, archaeology, and Native American cultures.

Colonial Latin American Historical Review

In its wide ranging selection of case studies the book introduces the reader not only to a variety of rock art manifestations and contexts, but also to aspects of gendered rock art studies that may inspire the search for new developments in local rock art research.

Aboriginal History

Ambiguous Images is a welcome addition to gender, aterial, visual and even 'science' culture studies, and a text I will eagerly recommend and use in the classroom.

Association for Feminist Anthropology

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.. . 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.

Antiquity

With this book American rock art research comes of age. Far from a rock art-book-about-rock art, this instead is a book on how rock art informs us about prehistoric gender and social life. It is essential reading for anyone interested in symbolism, prehistoric art, feminist theory or western North American prehistory.

David S. Whitley

...presents new avenues for research. Her writing style is clear, and the bibliography is valuable for students of archaeology and rock art. Recommended.--T. A. Foor, University of Montana "CHOICE "

Like the other books in this series, this one creates new paths for others to follow. Kelley Hays-Gilpin doesn't cut the path with a machete, however, but with a scalpel and a fine sensibility for detail. She dispassionately probes the explanations that have been put forward about gender and rock art, and without posturing shows better ways to think about both topics and to discriminate between more and less likely interpretations...The reader has in hand a wise guide, a thoughtful analysis, and a good read.--From the Foreword, Sarah Milledge Nelson, University of Denver

With this book American rock art research comes of age. Far from a rock art-book-about-rock art, this instead is a book on how rock art informs us about prehistoric gender and social life. It is essential reading for anyone interested in symbolism, prehistoric art, feminist theory or western North American prehistory.--David S. Whitley, author, The Art of the Shaman; editor, Archaeology of Religion series

From the Publisher