Our current prejudices - sexism, racism, etc. - often get reflected onto other times and people. Yet there is evidence that this is not the case. (Good grief our cultures on this planet in this time are so varied!) So I really enjoyed the article by Reclusive Leftist titled Oldest depiction of female form shows that modern archaeologists are pornsick misogynists.
Yes the title may make you laugh and the article may make you shake your head. It is very good reading. We must be careful how we look at our past as our judgement may be clouded by our own current thinking. We may not be seeing the truth.
To quote the author:
"This has been the central flaw of anthropology for as long there’s been anthropology. And even before: the English invaders of North America thought the Iroquois chiefs had concubines who accompanied them everywhere, because they had no other mental categories to account for well-dressed, important-looking women sitting in a council house. It’s the same fallacy that bedevils archaeologists who dig up male skeletons with fancy beads and conclude that the society was male dominant (because powerful people wear jewelry!), and at another site dig up female skeletons with fancy beads and conclude that this society, too, was male dominant (because women have to dress up as sex objects and trophy wives!). Male dominance is all they can imagine. And so no matter what they dig up, they interpret it to fit their mental model."
Read the whole article here and enjoy.
Oldest depiction of female form shows that modern archaeologists are pornsick misogynists.
Yes the title may make you laugh and the article may make you shake your head. It is very good reading. We must be careful how we look at our past as our judgement may be clouded by our own current thinking. We may not be seeing the truth.
To quote the author:
"This has been the central flaw of anthropology for as long there’s been anthropology. And even before: the English invaders of North America thought the Iroquois chiefs had concubines who accompanied them everywhere, because they had no other mental categories to account for well-dressed, important-looking women sitting in a council house. It’s the same fallacy that bedevils archaeologists who dig up male skeletons with fancy beads and conclude that the society was male dominant (because powerful people wear jewelry!), and at another site dig up female skeletons with fancy beads and conclude that this society, too, was male dominant (because women have to dress up as sex objects and trophy wives!). Male dominance is all they can imagine. And so no matter what they dig up, they interpret it to fit their mental model."
Read the whole article here and enjoy.
Oldest depiction of female form shows that modern archaeologists are pornsick misogynists.
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