Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives: Sex, Gender, and Archaeology

by Rosemary A. Joyce

There has never been a single way that social life has heen organized by sex. The ancient Greeks saw men and women as expressing varying degrees of a single sexual potential; many Native American societies considered sexual identity as something that changed and developed during a lifetime, and recognized three or four categories of sexual identity.

Ranging from the earliest European hunters who created the first human images known to us almost 30,000 years ago to the lives of men and women from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who seldom appear in conventional histories, Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives explores how men and women have represented sexual differences, and lived lives shaped in part by those differences.

Professor Joyce shows not only how archaeologists learn about the lives of men and women in the past, but also why the stories they can tell are important to hear today. She challenges us to reconsider how we think about sex and its implications for each person. Showing the critical role of the material world in forming our experiences of and concepts about sex, this book connects archaeology firmly to contemporary studies of material culture and identity. 35 black-and-white illustrations

Genres: Archaeology, Nonfiction, History, Anthropology, Gender, Class, Sexuality

152 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2008

About the author

Rosemary Joyce is the Alice Davis Endowed Chair in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and received her PhD from the University of Illinois-Urbana in 1985

Reviews

[lizard · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The experiences of people in the contemporary world are actually a good deal more varied than those expected under the normative two-sex/two-gender model. Nor perhaps is the normative model as deeply rooted in society or nature as it's apologists like to suggest."

[Trinity Benstock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, though could’ve been 20 page shorter. I agree with other reviews that Joyce repeats herself too much, especially the phrase “2 gender binary”. Nonetheless, this book provides an excellent introduction to gender archaeology written by someone at the forefront of the field. This introductory nature- the book just runs down examples of where our assumptions on binary modes of gender/sex are irrelevant and inaccurate- serves a good glean.

[Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels like a book that really only says "here's how our construction of gender misinforms us about the past", however I know that if I return to it in a few years, it'll tell me something slightly different. I love books like these! Open it for a peek into how many ways people can and have thought about gender, and learn about how gender manifests in the archaeological record.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This academic-style book had a slow, repetitive start. The second half, however, was informative with several interesting examples of how we must confront our own biases when interpreting evidence from the past.

[Ellenore Clementine Kruger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I was seeing through strange eyes, but I felt some of this was offensive. She would say gay fluid absorption was creative, but I felt mostly dismay about how fluid is mostly viral transmission, not really muscle. So I felt disappointment, like the book lacked a moral spine and gave too much credit. I also read too much about crimes against children and know that controlling the body for ethical purposes is healthier. And there were some difficult pictures for me. The writing was chewy. I could not enjoy this.

[Rubén Jerez Brenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Redactado con un lenguaje muy claro e ilustrado a través muchos ejemplos. Es una obra destinada a un público especializado, pero un entusiasta de la arqueología también podrá disfrutarla y sacarle mucho provecho. Introduce la arqueología de género como área de investigación arqueológica y establece cual es el panorama teórico actual desde el cual son abordados sexo y género en la reconstrucción del pasado.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting topic, but the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Try as it might to present itself otherwise, the book is too mired in Eurocentric, antiquated ideas of "biological sex". Although it might be new information for some people, there is too much to unpack for me to be able to recommend this to anyone.

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speaking in terms of academic, the approach is phenomenal and revealing. Well written, inquisitive, reflecting the lucid horizon of gender and its constructs around history and archeology, this book explores the dynamics between ideas and their reflection on the community in terms of sex and sexual behavior and herarchy.

[Jayme Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as Joyce's work goes, I do think this might be her weakest publication. However, it is still a must-read for anyone interested in gender and archeology, as well as the ancient Maya. It's pretty easy to get through in one sitting as well!

[Rebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient Bodies explores other ways of interpreting the remains of ancient cultures, predominantly from the Americas (like the Mayans), often disagreeing with archaeologists whose focus on sex/gender has blinded them to other, more accurate ways of understanding these cultures' treatment of societal roles, such as religious or class explanations.
I like the idea of getting away from 20th century Western biases when studying ancient cultures, and Joyce covers the topic thoroughly and convincingly. However, I didn't actually find this book to be interesting at all, mostly because I'm bored by archaeology and that's the focus of this book. If not required for my Gender & Society class, I never would've read this. Recommended for those interested in archaeology but not necessarily for those, like me, who are just interested in gender studies.

[Kelly Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because this book was published in 2008, there may not have been as much familiarity or normalcy of terms used to speak about gender non-conforming individuals; I was still quite surprised at how much the narrative concentrated around dividing archaeological sites and materials into a male-female dichotomy of gender, even when discussing those individuals in communities who Joyce terms “third gender.”

The archaeological details were accessible even as someone without a background in the discipline, but the limitations of looking at Ancient peoples in the context of a male-female binary were hard to look past, even as Joyce attempts to push back against this understanding.

[Imogen Herrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, inspiring, through-provoking, full of lightbulb moments. A beautifully lucid and very readable book, written by a professor of archaeology who wants to ask questions and more than she provides answers. Everybody who is at all interested in history, or gender, or people, should read this book.

[Camille Cronkhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic and necessary contribution to archaeology

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. It's a little dry with it's academic approach, but I went around blurting out juicy tidbits to everyone around me.