Title:

Women´s Work? Findings from the Neolithic Chert Mines in the ‘Krumlovský les’, South Moravia

Subtitle:

Between History and Archaeology : papers in honour of Jacek Lech

Creator:

Oliva, Martin

Publisher:

Archaeopress Archaeology

Place of publishing:

Oxford; England

Date issued/created:

2018

Description:

ill. ; 29 cm

Type of object:

Book/Chapter

Subject and Keywords:

Krumlovský les ; Southern Moravia ; Lengyel Culture (LGK) ; chert quarrying ; burials

Abstract:

Krumlovský les revealed one of the largest mining fields in Europe dated from the Mesolithic to the Hallstatt period. Quarrying culminated in the Early Bronze Age, when the local Jurassic chert, re-deposited in the Miocene sands, was extracted from hundreds of shafts up to 8m deep, with most of the production material left at the site. The largest shafts of the Late Lengyel culture were located on a slope below a re-deposited boulder. Shaft no. 4 yielded two skeletons of females; the lower one had a newborn placed on her breasts. Both women were found to be the shortest of the then population as a whole, and they were weak, diseased, and poorly fed during their childhood. By contrast, as adults they were fed with meat and carried out heavy work, which is corroborated by strongly marked muscle attachments and vertebral degeneration. The hypothesis is that the patriarchy extracted labor (also) from lower status individuals who toiled in the mines. However ritual aspects cannot be excluded: in some lands, the Earth is of female gender, and as such will more willingly accept women than men… but why exactly the smallest ones?

References:

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Start page:

43

End page:

48

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-SA 3.0 PL] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Operational Program Digital Poland, 2014-2020, Measure 2.3: Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information; funds from the European Regional Development Fund and national co-financing from the state budget. ; European Union. European Regional Development Fund

Access:

Open