gender and change in archaeology: european studies on the impact of gender research on archaeology and wider society

This volume presents the various ways in which the study of gender makes a difference in archaeological research, the archaeological academic milieu and the wider public’s thinking about gender and considers avenues of future development. It addresses questions such as why gender matters for archaeology, while examining gender from various angles (including aspects such as subjectivity, embodiment, diet, multifaceted perspectives and intersectionality) and in various periods (prehistory, Ancient Egypt, Roman antiquity, the Middle Ages and the modern and contemporary periods). It also discusses the relationship between archaeology and other academic fields involving the study of gender, as well as representations and debates on gender in the media.

The theme ’gender and change in archeology’ emerged out of concerns voiced within the ’Archaeology and Gender in Europe’ (AGE) working community of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) with respect to thefuture of gender archaeology. This book unites researchers of gender archaeology from two perspectives: that of gender archaeologists from academic milieus where the study of gender has long been established and who in the meantime came to feel that this avenue of inquiry had become predictable and lost its provocative power, and that of gender archaeologists from countries where this field was only recently introduced and who, while more enthusiastic about the utility of gender archaeology, are concerned with how to disseminate it among skeptical peers. Both groups of archaeologists mainly argue that, four decades on, the study of gender in archaeology is still able to generate considerable change in our understanding of past and present-day societies. The volume is primarily of interest to archaeologists and researchers of gender studies.

Nona Palincaş is a senior researcher with the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest and a member and former co-chair of the Archaeology and Gender in Europe (AGE) working community of the EAA. Her recent work concerns gender, power, agency and body practices in southeast European pre- and protohistory, archaeometry (14C dating, stable isotopes based diet reconstruction and ceramic technology) of the same period as well as gender, power and knowledge in contemporary archaeology.

Ana Cristina Martins is a researcher with the Institute of Contemporary History of the University of Évora Pole / IN2PAST, where she works in the field of the history of archaeology and cultural heritage, teaches courses, and supervises master’s and doctoral theses and post-doctoral internships. She was (2020-2023) a co-chair of the Archaeology and Gender in Europe (AGE) working community of the EAA. Her current research is mainly focused on women in archaeology with particular concern for Portugal in the 1950s ‒ 1970s.