Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige

An important book, in that it is the first to attempt a comprehensive feminist, theoretical synthesis of the growing mountain of archaeological work on gender. Sarah Nelson is carefully inclusive of both men and women, examining their roles in areas such as human origins, the sexual division of labour, kinship and social formations, state development and ideology. Examples from relevant studies are adduced in the examination of traditional myths such as woman the gatherer, the goddess hypothesis, and depictions of women as symbols of fertility and sex. One of the most important gender studies in recent times.