Gender and the Archaeology of Death [Paperback]

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

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2001 | Series: Gender and Archaeology (Book 2)

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.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

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 Jrl. Of Archaeology, #27 (2003) )

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 American Antiquity, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2004 )

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 )

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 )

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Altamira Press (June 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075910137X
• ISBN-13: 978-0759101371
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)