Archaeologists have been slow to embrace feminist scholarship. Although most still avoid the term "feminism," an archaeology of gender has emerged and thrived. This article explores the history of women and feminism in archaeology, examines a few of the central issues addressed by feminist and gender-oriented archaeologists, briefly addresses equity issues for women archaeologists, and identifies some future directions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barstow, Ann.1978. The Uses of Archaeology for Women's History: James Mellaart's Work on the Neolithic Goddess at Çatal Hüyük. Feminist Studies4(3):7-17.
2.
Bender, Susan J.1991. Towards a History of Women in Northeastern U.S. Archaeology In The Archaeology of Gender: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary, ed. D. Walde and N. D. Willows. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary .
3.
Bertelsen, Reidar, Arnvid Lillehammer, and Jenny-Rita Naess, eds.1987. Were They All Men? An Examination of Sex Roles in Prehistoric Society. Stavanger, Norway: Arkeologist Museum I Stavanger.
4.
Brumfiel, Elizabeth.1996. Figurines and the Aztec State: Testing the Effectiveness of Ideological Domination. In Gender and Archaeology, ed. Rita P. Wright.Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press.
5.
Claassen, Cheryl, ed. 1992. Exploring Gender Through Archaeology: Selected Papers from the 1991 Boone Conference. Madison, WI: Prehistory Press.
6.
—. 1994. Women in Archaeology. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press.
7.
Claassen, Cheryl and Rosemary A. Joyce .1997. Women in the Ancient Americas: Archaeologists, Gender, and the Making of Prehistory. In Women in Prehistory: North America and Mesoamerica, ed. C. Claassen and R. A. JoycePhiladelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
8.
Conkey, Margaret W. and Janet Spector.1984. Archaeology and the Study of Gender . Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory7:1-38.
9.
Conkey, Margaret W. with Sarah H. Williams .1991. Original Narratives: The Political Economy of Gender in Archaeology. In Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the Postmodern Era, ed. M. DiLeonardo.Berkeley: University of California Press.
10.
Cordell, Linda.1993. Women Archaeologists in the Southwest. In Hidden Scholars: Women Anthropologists and the Native American Southwest, ed. N. J. Parezo.Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
11.
Crown, Patricia L. and Suzanne K. Fish .1996. Gender and Status in the Hohokam Pre-Classic to Classic Tradition. American Anthropologist98(4):803-17.
12.
Dahlberg, Frances, ed. 1981. Woman the Gatherer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
13.
Davis, Emma Lou.1978. The Ancient Californians: Rancholabrean Hunters of the Mojave Lakes Country. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
14.
du Cros, Hilary and Laurajane Smith, eds. 1993. Women in Archaeology: A Feminist Critique. Canberra: Australian National University.
15.
Engelstad, Ericka.1991. Images of Power and Contradiction: Feminist Theory and Post-Processual Archaeology. Antiquity65:502-14.
16.
Gero, Joan M.1985. Sociopolitics and the Woman-at-Home Ideology. American Antiquity50:342-50.
17.
—. 1996. Archaeological Practice and Gendered Encounters with Field Data. In Gender and Archaeology, ed. Rita P. Wright.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
18.
Gilchrist, Roberta.1991. Women's Archaeology ? Political Feminism, Gender Theory, and Historical Revision. Antiquity65:495-501.
19.
Gimbutas, Marija.1987. The Language of the Goddess: Images and Symbols of Old Europe. New York: Van der Marck .
20.
—. 1991. The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old EuropeSan Francisco: HarperCollins.
21.
Goodison, Lucy and Christine Morris, eds. 1998. Ancient Goddesses. London: British Museum Press.
22.
Hanen, Marsha and Jane Kelley.1992. Gender and Archaeological Knowledge. In MetaArchaeology: Reflections by Archaeologists and Philosophers, ed. L. Embree.Boston: Kluwer.
23.
Hays-Gilpin, Kelley.2000. Beyond Mother Earth and Father Sky: Sex and Gender in Ancient Southwestern Visual Arts. In Interpreting the Body: Insights from Anthropological and Classical Archaeology: Selected Papers from the Fourth Gender and Archaeology Conference, ed. Alison Rautman.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
24.
Hays-Gilpin, Kelley, Ann Cordy Deegan, and Elizabeth Ann Morris .1998. Prehistoric Sandals from Northeastern Arizona: The Earl H. and Ann Axtell Morris Research. University of Arizona Papers in Anthropology 62. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
25.
Hays-Gilpin, Kelley and David S. Whitley, eds. 1998. Reader in Gender Archaeology. London: Routledge.
26.
Hurcombe, Linda.1995. Our Own Engendered Species. Antiquity69(262): 87-100.
27.
Joyce, Rosemary A.1994. Dorothy Hughes Popenoe: Eve in an Archaeological Garden. In Women in Archaeology, ed. Cheryl Claassen.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
28.
Knapp, A. Bernard and Lynn Meskell.1997. Bodies of Evidence on Prehistoric Cyprus . Cambridge Archaeological Journal7(2): 183-204.
29.
Levy, Janet.1999. Gender, Power, and Heterarchy in Middle-Level Societies. In Manifesting Power: Gender and the Interpretation of Power in Archaeology , ed. T. Sweely.London : Routledge.
30.
Linton, Sally. [1971] 1975. Woman the Gatherer: Male Bias in Anthropology. In Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. R. R. Reiter.New York: Monthly Review Press.
31.
Lister, Florence Cline.1997. Pot Luck: Adventures in Archaeology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
32.
Mellaart, James.1967. Çatal Hüyük: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia. New York: McGraw Hill.
33.
Meskell, Lynn.1995. Goddesses, Gimbutas and "New Age" Archaeology. Antiquity69(262):74-87.
34.
—. 1996. The Somatization of Archaeology: Institutions, Discourses, Corporeality. Norwegian Archaeological Review29:1-16.
35.
Nelson, Margaret C., Sarah M. Nelson, and Alison Wylie, eds. 1994. Equity Issues for Women in Archaeology. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association.
36.
Nelson, Sarah M. and Alice B. Kehoe, eds. 1990. Powers of Observation: Alternative Views in Archaeology. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association.
37.
Nelson, Sarah Milledge.1997. Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
38.
Preucel, Robert W. and Meredith S. Chesson .1994. Blue Corn Girls: A Herstory of Three Early Women Archaeologists at Tecolote, New Mexico. In Women in Archaeology , ed. Cheryl Claassen.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
39.
Rautman, Alison, ed. 2000. Interpreting the Body: Insights from Anthropological and Classical Archaeology: Selected Papers from the Fourth Gender and Archaeology Conference . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
40.
Reyman, Jonathan E.1992. Women in American Archaeology: Some Historical Notes and Comments. In Rediscovering Our Past: Essays on the History ofamerican Archaeology , ed. J. E. Reyman.Aldershot: Avebury.
41.
Scott, Elizabeth M., ed. 1994. Those of Little Note: Gender, Race, and Class in Historical Archaeology. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
42.
Seifert, Donna J., ed. 1991. Gender in Historical Archaeology. Historical Archaeology25(4).
43.
Spector, Janet D.1983. Male/Female Task Differentiation Among the Hidatsa: Toward the Development of an Archaeological Approach to the Study of Gender. In The Hidden Half, ed. P. Albers and B. Medicine.Washington, DC: University Press of America.
44.
—. 1993. What ThisAwl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a Wahpeton Dakota Village. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.
45.
Spencer-Wood, Suzanne.1996. Toward the Further Development of Feminist Historical Archaeology. World Archaeological CongressBulletin7:118-36.
46.
Taylor, Timothy.1996. The Prehistory of Sex: Four Million Years of Human Sexual Culture. New York: Bantam.
47.
Tringham, Ruth E.1991. Households with Faces: The Challenge of Gender in Prehistoric Architectural Remains. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, ed. J. Gero and M. ConkeyOxford: Basil Blackwell.
48.
Tringham, Ruth and Margaret Conkey.1998. Rethinking Figurines: A Critical View from Archaeology of Gimbutas, the "Goddess" and Popular Culture. In Ancient Goddesses, ed. L. Goodison and C. Morris.London: British Museum Press.
49.
Watkins, Frances.1931. Archaeology as a Profession for Women. Masterkey4:173-78.
50.
Watson, Patty Jo and Mary C. Kennedy .1991. The Development of Horticulture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: Women's Role. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, ed. J. Gero and M. Conkey.London: Basil Blackwell.
51.
Wolf, Eric.1982. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
52.
Wylie, Alison.1992. The Interplay of Evidential Constraints and Political Interests: Recent Archaeological Research on Gender. American Antiquity57:15-35.
53.
—. 1997. The Engendering of Archaeology: Refiguring Feminist Science Studies. Osiris12:80-99.
54.
Yates, Tim.1993. Frameworks for an Archaeology of the Body. In Interpretative Archaeology, ed. Christopher Tilley.Oxford: Berg.