Gender in archaeology has been coming up in most of my classes these past 2 weeks. This topic is definitely something I would expect to cover, but it is interesting to have all this overlap. Definitely makes it hard NOT to think about a topic when I am constantly reading or talking about it.
I personally find this to be quite a cantankerous subject as much of the time I find it is impossible to be certain of any factors, and even when the information we are presented with is said to be true there is always the possibility of gender biases. I certainly understand that often ethnographic data points us in the right direction in associating certain types of grave goods with a specific gender, but what about cases where you do not have direct knowledge of this sort. Are archaeologists therefore placing their predisposed notions of gender roles upon newly excavated graves of previously unknown cultures?
Osteological inferences can be used, but for older cultures there is always the possibility that remains will not be preserved. In these cases I find it EXTREMELY difficult to make gender assumptions. Perhaps the individual that you are exhuming was female, but a male counterpart was burying them and decided to place a personal item of his into the grave as protection or a method of mourning?
Though many cases can be accurately determined, I often think about the individuals that cannot be placed within a particular gender category. For me, this simply raises more questions and forces me to be more critical when trying to understand the roles of individuals in the past.
SDP
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