Gender and the Archaeology of Death

by Bettina Arnold (Editor), Nancy L. Wicker (Editor)

Overview

Burials are places where archaeologists reasonably expect gendered ideologies and practices to play out in the archaeological record. Yet only modest progress has been made in teasing out gender from these mortuary contexts. In this volume, methods for doing so are presented, cases of successful gender theorizing from mortuary data presented, and comparisons made between European and Americanist traditions in this kind of work. Cases are broad in temporal and geographic scope—from Inuit burials in Alaska and Oneota mortuary rituals to Viking Scandinavia, Neolithic China and Iron Age Britain. Methods for identifying and analyzing gender are suggested for cultures at various levels of social complexity with or without documentary or ethnoarchaeological evidence to assist in the analysis. A volume of great interest for those attempting to develop an archaeology of gender. Visit Bettina Arnold's web page

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759117037
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	06/26/2001
Series:	Gender and Archaeology , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Bettina Arnold teaches anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Nancy L. Wicker is in the Art Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Gender Ideology and Mortuary Analysis
Chapter 3 1. Killing the Female? Archaeological Narratives of Infanticide
Chapter 4 2. Life, Death, and the Longhouse: A Gendered View of Oneota Social Organization
Chapter 5 3. Gender Studies in Chinese Neolithic Archaeology
Chapter 6 Gender and Power
Chapter 7 4. Visible Women Made Invisible: Interpreting Varangian Women in Old Russia
Chapter 8 5. The Position of Iron Age Scandinavian Women: Evidence from Graves and Rune Stones
Chapter 9 Gender Roles and the Ambiguity of Signification
Chapter 10 6. Gender and Mortuary Analysis: What Can Grave Goods Really Tell Us?
Chapter 11 7. Sharing the Load: Gender and Task Division at the Windover Site
Chapter 12 8. Grave Goods Do Not a Gender Make: A Case Study from Singen am Hohentwiel, Germany
Chapter 13 Weapons, Women, Warriors
Chapter 14 9. Decoding the Gender Bias: Inferences of Atlatls in Female Mortuary Contexts
Chapter 15 10. Warfare and Gender in the Northern Plains: Osteological Evidence of Trauma Reconsidered

Editorial Reviews

Anthropologist, archaeologists, and art historians detail their approaches to studying gender in burial practices and in other mortuary contexts. They compare European and American traditions in this field, outline methods for analyzing gender in cultures of varying complexity and with different levels of documentation, and describe some of the successes of such efforts. Consideration is given to the relationships between gender, ideology, power, signification, and the interpretation of evidence. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

The book provides a much needed compendium of theoretical and methodological examples of engendered approaches to mortuary analysis...succeeds in bringing together several excellent papers that re-examine and test interpretive assumptions regarding gender and mortuary remains...valuable to those interested in the archeology of gender.

Canadian Journal of Archaeology

Drs Arnold & Wicker present 10 substantial studies on mortuary analysis, social power, 'ambiguity of signification,' and war.... They are interesting and useful, either as case studies or as methodological disquisitions.....

Antiquity - N. James

The...papers [in Gender and the Archaeology of Death] lend unquestionable support to archaeology's role in illuminating women's lives and challenging conventional wisdom about the gendered division of labor...Bettina Arnold and Nancy Wicker have compiled a timely group of papers that encompasses many recent trends in the archaeology of gender. Beyond merely "finding women," the volume rides the waves of newer currents that depict women as diverse, as active, and as individuals with mutable identities.

Patricia E. Rubertonen Antiquity

The book provides a much needed compendium of theoretical and methodological examples of engendered approaches to mortuary analysis...succeeds in bringing together several excellent papers that re-examine and test interpretive assumptions regarding gender and mortuary remains...valuable to those interested in the archeology of gender.

(2003) Canadian Journal of Archaeology

The...papers [in Gender and the Archaeology of Death] lend unquestionable support to archaeology's role in illuminating women's lives and challenging conventional wisdom about the gendered division of labor...Bettina Arnold and Nancy Wicker have compiled a timely group of papers that encompasses many recent trends in the archaeology of gender. Beyond merely "finding women," the volume rides the waves of newer currents that depict women as diverse, as active, and as individuals with mutable identities.

American Antiquity, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2004 - Patricia E. Rubertone

The...papers [in Gender and the Archaeology of Death] lend unquestionable support to archaeology's role in illuminating women's lives and challenging conventional wisdom about the gendered division of labor...Bettina Arnold and Nancy Wicker have compiled a timely group of papers that encompasses many recent trends in the archaeology of gender. Beyond merely "finding women," the volume rides the waves of newer currents that depict women as diverse, as active, and as individuals with mutable identities.--Patricia E. Rubertone, Brown University "American Antiquity, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2004 "

The book provides a much needed compendium of theoretical and methodological examples of engendered approaches to mortuary analysis...succeeds in bringing together several excellent papers that re-examine and test interpretive assumptions regarding gender and mortuary remains...valuable to those interested in the archeology of gender.--Canadian Journal of Archaeology, (2003)

Drs Arnold & Wicker present 10 substantial studies on mortuary analysis, social power, 'ambiguity of signification, ' and war.... They are interesting and useful, either as case studies or as methodological disquisitions.--N. James "Antiquity "

From the Publisher

The book provides a much needed compendium of theoretical and methodological examples of engendered approaches to mortuary analysis...succeeds in bringing together several excellent papers that re-examine and test interpretive assumptions regarding gender and mortuary remains...valuable to those interested in the archeology of gender.

(2003) Canadian Journal Of Archaeology

Drs Arnold & Wicker present 10 substantial studies on mortuary analysis, social power, 'ambiguity of signification,' and war.... They are interesting and useful, either as case studies or as methodological disquisitions.
— N. James

Antiquity