Description: This collection of original essays presents an in-depth look at the archaeology of the Eurasian steppe-from China to Europe-and the evidence of gender roles in ancient nomadic societies.
Review Quotes:
"The 'warrior woman' concept has captured the scholarly and popular imagination at least since Herodotus' excursus on the Amazons. Most treatments of this subject, however, have tended to focus on historically documented contexts. This edited volume of essays by leading scholars presents the archaeological evidence for the prehistoric social configurations of Eurasian steppe peoples. It is a timely and rigorously researched treatment of ancient societies in which the domain of war was not always exclusively male." --Bettina Arnold, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
"This important book dramatically expands the archaeological analysis of gender. Geographically, it harnesses the rich conceptual apparatus concerning gender and social roles to the study of the vast Eurasian continent, which has slowly emerged as one of the most intellectually vibrant domains of ongoing archaeological work. Analytically, the volume's tight focus on the gendering of martial violence is equally groundbreaking. By revealing 'man the warrior' to be as trite as the long-abandoned 'man the hunter, ' the book's contributors elevate the archaeological study of gender, warfare, and violence into new and sophisticated realms of inquiry." --Adam Smith, University of Chicago