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Archaeology and The Goddess: Exploring the Contours of Feminist Archaeology (1995)
... Whatever the shortcomings of Gimbutas´ work, she did address the important issue of male-centred narratives created by a male-dominated (western) academic establishment. Unfortunately, her methodological and analytic weaknesses have negatively impacted more current attempts of feminist archaeologists trying to employ new approaches in considering gender within archaeological context (Conkey and Tringham 1995;Talalay 1994, 172). ...
For the Neolithic in the Near East figurines are our primary, at times only, source of visual representations of humans and animals at many sites. More than purely utilitarian objects, figurines are thought to provide insight into the more intangible aspects of past life such as ritual, cosmology, identity and social processes. In most approaches, there has often been a focus on figurines as static images. However, placing prime importance on representation ignores the importance of interactions between people and materials. In this thesis it is argued that through an artefact and life biography approach we can more productively analyse figurines as a process; from production, use, to final deposition. Better insight into these aspects will allow us to more fully comprehend how figurines operated in their respective social contexts. Any statement on figurine practices needs to incorporate all types of figurines and furthermore a nuanced view on differences in figurine practices needs to be substantiated by analysis of different sites. Therefore, this thesis features the corpora of two Neolithic sites: Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) and Çatalhöyük (Turkey) both inhabited through the 8th to 6th millennia. The different social settings at these sites make them an interesting case study to analyse differences in figurine practices. The result is a comprehensive overview of the complete life biographies of all clay figurines found at both sites, looking at material properties, production, use-wear traces and depositional contexts which are then compared between figurine types and analysed through time. Synthesising these findings yielded a detailed insight into figurine practices at the two case study sites, showing some common practices but also marked differences potentially linked to more household practices at Çatalhöyük and community practices at Tell Sabi Abyad. Furthermore, life biographies of figurines at the two sites are variable and changes through time are observed at both sites. This thesis not only offers a detailed and nuanced picture of figurine practices at these two sites, but it also exemplifies that generalised statements about figurine practices in the Near East need to be reassessed through intra-site, artefact approach studies.
... También se centra en la cuantificación y la estadística a través de la formalización y cuantificación en arqueología, y en el desarrollo de excavaciones y análisis espaciales en las investigaciones que formaron la base de su trayectoria arqueológica y de los grupos de investigación con los que trabajó, como son los estudios de Son Ferragut (Castro-Martínez et al., 2003a) o el Proyecto contra la falsificación del pasado prehistórico (Castro-Martínez et al., 2006). Asimismo, son fundamentales sus propuestas enmarcadas en la arqueología feminista referidas al estudio de las representaciones figurativas, con los análisis y las ideas para las mal llamadas "Venus paleolíticas", un tema que, por otra parte, tam bién se venía debatiendo en el mundo anglosajón desde hacía una década (Conkey y Tringham, 1995;McDermott, 1996;, y la defensa de la "sexuación del pasado" que siempre consideró fundamental para cual quier estudio coherente de arqueología feminista (Escoriza-Mateu y Sanahuja Yll, 2001). Reivindica así durante los años noventa la necesidad de solventar la caren cia de estudios osteológicos que explicasen en mayor medida las diferencias y las relaciones entre los sexos en las sociedades ágrafas y que evitase el continuo uso de lo masculino como lo neutro (Castro-Martínez et al., 1996: 42;: 13 y 62). ...
La mayoría de nosotras ya conocemos la forma en la que la Academia y la arqueología se ha desarrollado en contextos patriarcales, y la influencia que todo este recorrido ha tenido y tiene en la actualidad. Pero es gracias a una incansable lucha feminista, tanto dentro como fuera de la disciplina arqueológica, que actualmente podemos identificar esas dinámicas machistas y enfrentarnos a ellas. Uno de los mayores referentes de estas luchas lo encontramos en la figura de María Encarna Sanahuja Yll, cuyo trabajo supone un referente en la arqueología feminista actual. Si bien sus investigaciones son ampliamente conocidas, consideramos que sus aportaciones debían ocupar un lugar en el congreso “Voces in Crescendo: del mutismo a la afonía en la historia de las mujeres en la arqueología española” del que deriva la presente publicación.
... These relations can only be reconstituted through inference and exercising considerable caution. Thus the notion that the many female statuettes of Palaeolithic and Neolithic Europe were incontrovertible testimony of a cult of the Great Goddess, a cult that characterizes societies that are intrinsically matriarchal or "matristic" (Gimbutas 1991), has been convincingly refuted (Ucko 1962;Conkey and Tringham 1995;Testart 2010). ...
... Gilchrist, 1994;Spector, 1993;Wall, 1994) e a presença de estudos de caso arqueológicos e revisões em coletâneas e revistas multidisciplinares (ex. Bahn, 1992;Tringham, 1995;Williams, 1991;Gero, 1988;Wright, 2000). 3. Dados e tabulações dessa revisão bibliográfica estão arquivados com a autora. ...
Voss, B.l. 2021. “Feminismos, teorias queer e o estudo arqueológico de sexualidades passadas.” Regista de Arqueología Pública 15(1):285-304. https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/rap/article/view/8666176/26984
RESUMO A Arqueologia enfrenta o desafio singular de esticar as teorias sociais da sexualidade em novas direções cronológicas e metodológicas. Este ensaio utiliza uma análise de práticas citacionais para considerar como as teorias queer e feminista se articulam com investigações arqueológicas sobre sexualidade. Tanto a teoria queer quanto as práticas arqueológicas feministas aparecem como ferramentas poderosas que podem ser usadas para expandir interpretações arqueológicas de gênero e sexualidade. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: gênero; teoria queer; feminismo; história da Arqueologia. Há outra função social do gênero a ser considerada, que é marcar socialmente as/os parceiras/os sexualmente apropriadas/os. Se o leitor aceita essa função social do gênero, então uma arqueologia do gênero é uma arqueologia da sexualidade (Claassen, 1992b). Gênero está fora-sexo está dentro (grafite de rua, Çatalhöyük, Turquia, 1998). 1 (NT) Publicação original: Feminisms, queer theories, and the archaeological study of past sexualities, World Archaeology, Queer Archaeologies-Vo1. 32(2), 2000, p. 180-192.
... It is research that deliberately aims at counterbalancing androcentric archaeology and thus re-evaluates women and their signif icance that can be classified as feminist women's studies. Representatives of more recent trends in feminist archaeology have criticized straightforward women's studies for not questioning the very foundations of previous (subconscious) assumptions about gender (Conkey and Tringham 1995;Roberts 1993;Nelson 1997: 33-8;Gilchrist 1999: 6-8;Joyce 2008: 66). In their view, such studies had only emphasized the female side of traditional gender perceptions or dealt with individual exceptional women. ...
The chapter discusses the influence of feminist theories on theory construction, self-conception, and the public perception of archaeology and its various sub-disciplines. The theoretical foundations of gender archaeology are also considered. As there are many feminist theories as well as archaeologies, the chapter also summarizes what can be described as broad sets of overlaps, and to an extent simplifies the variety of different points of view.
Feminist criticism as well as new questions, models, and methods based on it reached archaeology in the 1980s, later than the other humanities. Initial efforts could be classified as women’s studies that mostly aimed to balance a male-biased view of the past by adding a female view to it. Since the 1990s, the term ‘gender’ with its various aspects is the focus of discussion. The number, convertibility, and history of genders are also important topics.
In addition, feminist archaeology focuses on archaeology’s own institutions, their social rules, their language, and their image, which are also linked to the gender expectations of the surrounding society. These aspects are also connected to the way images of the past are presented to the public, and which effects they have on gender discourses.
... Conkey and Tringham 1994: 217. 49 Gimbutas 1974. ...
The five areas of preIndoEuropean archaeology pioneered by Marija Gimbutas are reviewed. The competitive effort to discredit her in the 1990s and beyond is examined. Her Kurgan Theory of how, where, and when Indo-European nomadic tribes migrated into Eastern Europe has now been proven by historical genome mapping. In 2017 the renowned archaeologist who had initiated the efforts in the 1990s to dismiss her work conceded in a public lecture at the U of Chicago: Gimbutas won.
Marija Gimbutas (Gimbutienė) is a renowned archaeologist who specialised in European prehistory. This paper explores her life and work, including her personal biography, showing how her upbringing in Lithuania shaped her academic interests and orientations. This paper also reviews her professional achievements and contributions via the lenses of seven aspects of her academic life, namely her time in higher education, her work on Lithuanian folklore and symbolism, her explorations of Old Europe during the Neolithic, her Kurgan Hypothesis and engagement with Baltic studies, her excavations in southeast Europe, her work on the Goddess, and her symbolism work. It also examines academic and popular reactions to her writing and her influence on scholars and public discourse. Keywords: Gimbutas, Neolithic, history of archaeology, Goddess, figurines.
We advocate a feminist approach to archaeological heritage work in order to transform heritage practice and the production of archaeological knowledge. We use an engaged feminist standpoint and situate intersubjectivity and intersectionality as critical components of this practice. An engaged feminist approach to heritage work allows the discipline to consider women's, men's, and gender non‐conforming persons’ positions in the field, to reveal their contributions, to develop critical pedagogical approaches, and to rethink forms of representation. Throughout, we emphasize the intellectual labor of women of color, queer and gender non‐conforming persons, and early white feminists in archaeology.
My inspiration for an undergraduate dissertation (1972) on the origins of the Vinča group and, then, a PhD on the group as a whole (1976) came from a 1971 trip to the Belo Brdo tell. The PhD was transformed by new analyses to become the 1981 BAR publication - a processually-oriented work which, in an unexpected way, remains the only general synthesis of the Vinča group until this very day.
In this self-critical and -reflexive paper, based upon the keynote speech I was invited to present to the Tübingen 2019 ‘LBK – Vinča’ Conference, I look backwards to those aspects of the synthesis which remain relevant; examine those parts which have been overtaken by more recent research; and consider why it is that the synthesis has yet to be superceded.
It is interesting that landscape studies and especially settlement studies remain some of the most relevant parts of my research. Although new fieldwork has led to incrementally better distribution maps, the basic premises remain true of the changes in settlement structure from Starčevo to Vinča.
The remote sensing revolution, the Bayesian analyses of unimaginably large numbers of AMS dates and the contextual recording of finds have made the greatest impacts on Vinča research. Site planning and site size studies have progressed enormously. The analyses of site densities of figurines still poses important research questions but lacks the current contextual detail of figurine deposition.
Apart from congenital idleness, I cannot imagine why no other specialist has written a new synthesis of the Vinča group. It is not that no new ‘cultural syntheses' have appeared in the Balkans - syntheses are not yet a threatened species. Admittedly, a rather large amount of new material has appeared in the last 50 years - together with a tendency to paint pictures on smaller canvases. Yet my hope for the next 50 years is that several new general syntheses will be written on the Vinča group.
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