Carving Out Gender in the Prehistoric Aegean

Anthropomorphic Figurines of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

Abstract

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age anthropomorphic figurines from the Aegean have hitherto constituted separate fields of study. The present article proposes a uniform methodological strategy and theoretical perspective, aimed at uniting both sets of figurines to explore social dynamics through the study of gender. The main ideas discussed focus on the complex ways in which gender identities were constructed, the mechanisms of power negotiation, and the ways in which the physical and cultural body constituted an axis on which prehistoric societies organised themselves at a socio-economic and ideological level. The analysis exposes some of the biases that have coloured previous unilinear interpretations, and calls for a critical review of traditional social models, according to which the ‘egalitarian’ Neolithic was followed by the rise of patriarchy in the EBA.