Did Women and Children Exist in Prehistory?

"The archaeological record tends to preserve stone tools rather than perishable remains,
such as this split-twig figurine found in Dolores Cave, near Gunnison, Colorado."
Image Courtesy of Sapiens and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (A1291.1). 

June 15, 2016.

Stephen E. Nash, of SAPIENS, has written a thoughtful article about the importance of including women and children in archaeological interpretations of the past.

"I have long been troubled by archaeological research on Paleoindian North America, where Clovis, Folsom, and other projectile-point styles, dating from about 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, are analyzed as if no other technologies existed. Part of this emphasis on projectile points is a function of preservation—whereas kill sites, hunting camps, bones, and stone tools are reasonably well-preserved across the American West, Paleoindian campsites are rare, and perishable remains (e.g., nets, baskets, clothing, shoes, etc.) are even rarer..."

-Stephen E. Nash, SAPIENS.

To read the full article, click here.

For more information,

Visit:

• Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
• Dolores Cave, Colorado
• "Dolores River Archaeology: Canyon Adaptations as seen through survey" (PDF)
• Henry Wolcott Toll III, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado, 1977.
• Stone Tools
• Bradshaw Foundation
• "Why did we invent pottery?"
• University of York, March 21, 2016.
• Ötzi – the Iceman
• South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Bolzano, Italy
• Who Were the Vikings?
• Jorvik Viking Centre
• UNESCO World Heritage
• About
• Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculanium, and Torre Annunziata
• Video
• Activated Charcoal Processing (PDF)
• United States Department of Agriculture, 2002.
• "Distorting the Past. Gender and the Division of Labor in the European Upper Paleolithic" (PDF)
• Linda Owen, Tübingen, 2005. Reviewed by Marta Camps, PaleoAnthropology, 2008, pg 91-92.
• Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
• Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region
• The Paleoindian Period: 13,000 (or earlier) to 6000 B.C.
• "Clovis" and "Folsom" points
• "The origin and popular use of Occam's razor"
• Susan Borowski, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012.
• How Far Did Hohokam Reach? Researcher Thinks They Dominated Southwest for Centuries
• January 28, 2016.
• People Roamed Tip of South America 18,500 Years Ago
• January 20, 2016.
• York Academics Reveal Fishy Cooking Habits of North American Hunter-Gatherers
• March 9, 2015.