It is a concept that is increasingly confirmed. Many ancient sites around the world suggest that prehistoric women were hunters. They hunted, fished and went to war alongside men for many millennia. They were not just dedicated to ‘home’ and collecting.
The roles of hunter-gatherers in human society are not as gendered as we thought. A study led by Abigail Anderson of Seattle Pacific University looks into this. It was published in the magazine PloS One. It confirms that prehistoric women were skilled hunters and not just gatherers. This goes against this now challenged perception of primitive hunters.
Delving into the past
They reviewed 100 years of data on past archaeological finds in foraging societies around the world. Included are communities in North and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the ocean region.
Evidence shows that women were buried with big game hunting tools. Therefore, they were as involved in hunting as men. For a long time we thought that men hunted and women gathered. It was believed to have been this way since our species emerged and until the advent of agriculture just 12,000 years ago.
79% of living foraging societies demonstrate female hunting regardless of whether they were mothers or not. It is very likely that they also participated in warfare throughout the Homo sapiens lineage. More than 70% of female hunting appears to be intentional, experts explain. And it appears to target game of all sizes, most often big game. In most of those cases, there was clear documentation describing the women intentionally stalking and hunting. They didn’t just kill an animal if the opportunity presented itself.
New evidence, new eyes
“Evidence from around the world shows that women participate in subsistence hunting in most cultures.” The analysis also revealed that women actively participate in teaching hunting practices. They often employ a greater variety of weapons and hunting strategies than men. The evidence says women have played a fundamental but historically overlooked role in human survival.
“Stereotypes have influenced previous archaeological studies. The idea of interpreting objects buried with women as hunting tools used to be rejected,” the experts point out. But it is time to remove the veil of bias from our eyes. A very different story may come to light.
