Description
Book SynopsisAlthough the ancient Near East has been studied by anthropologists, archaeologists, philologists, and historians, no single work has explored issues of gender and social identity across the broad temporal and geographical range of Near Eastern civilizations. Gender Through Time in the Ancient Near East thus makes a unique contribution to gender studies. The volume''s contributorsan international group of experts from Near Easern, European and American institutionslook at the archaeological and other evidence to find out how gender roles were constructed in these ancient worlds and what they meant to the men and women who assumed them.
Trade ReviewGender studies is claiming its rightful place in the field of Near Eastern archaeology. This important and timely book will no doubt stimulate critical thinking on a subject of wide significance. -- Peter Akkermans, Leiden University
Overall, this book offers the attentive reader a wealth of possibilities for thinking about gender in the ancient Near East.... One can only hope that the book's thought-provoking studies will stimulate further engagement with gender and feminist theory among scholars working in this part of the world. -- Susan Pollock * American Journal of Archaeology, April 2009, 113.2 *
The editor and contributors have produced far and away the most important and stimulating study of ancient Near Eastern gender ever published. The consistently tight adhesion to the intricacies of the material evidence, the sophistication of the theoretical frameworks, and the insight and power of the interpretations throughout the book make it an astonishingly rich read. -- Roger Matthews, University College London
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 1 Ambiguous Genders? Alternative Interpretations: A Discussion of Case Studies from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic - Halaf Periods Chapter 2 Feasting and Dancing: Gendered Representation and Pottery in Later Mesopotamian Prehistory Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Evaluating Patterns of Gender through Mesopotamian and Iranian Figurines: A Reassessment of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Industries Chapter 6 Images of Men, Gender Regimes, and Social Stratification in the Late Uruk Period Chapter 6 Complex Identities: Gender, Age and Status in the Early Bronze Age of the Middle Euphrates Valley Chapter 8 The Female Kings of Ur Chapter 9 Gender Relations: Kinship, Property and Labor in Southern Mesopotamia Chapter 10 From Life Course to longue durée: Headshaping as Gendered Capital? Chapter 11 Gender in the Sanctuary: Votive Offerings and Deity at Ancient Marion Chapter 12 Gendered Fields in Ancient Near Eastern Studies: Past, Present, Future
