Woman the hunter

November 5, 2020 3:09 PM

Woman the hunter: Ancient Andean remains challenge old ideas of who speared big game "The researchers report that the burial was indeed that of a female, challenging the long-standing “man the hunter” hypothesis. Her existence led them to reexamine reports of other ancient burials in the Americas, and they found 10 additional women buried with projectile points who may also have been hunters."
posted by dhruva (10 comments total)

the meta-analysis suggests women have long been capable of hunting

The sixteen year old woman in this house found that phrasing annoying. Two big pigs this year with a bow she made. She nailed a turkey in the neck last fall after telling me she was going to. Now I just STFU and cook.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:23 PM on November 5, 2020 [10 favorites]

Women have always been capable of hunting; the question more seems to be whether or not they lived in societies that would allow them to take on that role.

The research is interesting and even if things weren't fully gender blind, shows that there was a lot more going on than the simplistic explanation.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:40 PM on November 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

Contemporary hunter-gatherer societies are diverse; why does anyone think historical hunter-gatherer societies wouldn't be?

I'm not aware of any contemporary society where women are the primary hunters, but there are societies where women do hunt or did until very recently (e.g. the Aeta in the Philippines), where women assist in hunting (e.g. the San), or where women fish (so, hunting water animals, e.g. the Momega).

It seems that taking care of small children is a limitation, but it's not an absolute one, and anthropologists and ethnographers have known for decades that there is no strict division between "male" and "female" labor (men also often gather, too).

My question is rhetorical, of course.

It's always cool to learn new information about how wonderfully diverse human societies can be.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:44 PM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

Also, at least in the two articles I have read about this, there seems to be an assumption that someone with bones and teeth that are categorized as "female" is the same as someone who is living as a woman. But as we all know, the body you were born with, the gender identity you live by, and the way that society interacts with those can all vary enormously.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:01 PM on November 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

Kutsuwamushi: I've been reading up on the Aka people recently and they're pretty 50/50 down the line. One researcher writes how he witnessed once accomplished Aka hunter working her craft all the way into late pregnancy, then head back out again a month or so post partum with an infant strapped to her side. The Aka also have an almost perfect division of child care, which I suspect is the big deciding factor there.
posted by Jilder at 7:46 PM on November 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

Now everyone's favorite internet misogynist tracking site can change its name to She Hunted The Mammoth! Unfortunately the mentality regularly on exhibit there is so twisted and warped and Gollum-like that they will undoubtedly find a way to construe this as evidence of the timeless oppression and victimization of men—dey tuk er jerbs, my precious!
posted by XMLicious at 4:32 AM on November 6, 2020

Women have always been capable of hunting; the question more seems to be whether or not they lived in societies that would allow them to take on that role.

Once a society moves towards organized warfare, men will choose deny women access to weapons (ie, to power) and the myth of the stay-at-home woman begins.
posted by SPrintF at 6:12 AM on November 6, 2020

This is kinda neat - I was just (as in, two weeks ago) introduced to the whole Sherwood-Lancaster "Man the Hunter" / Slocum "Woman the Gatherer" dialogue, so this is timely to say the least!
posted by pseudophile at 8:54 AM on November 6, 2020

the meta-analysis suggests women have long been capable of hunting

CAN A WOMAN LEARN TO HUNT? WE ASKED THE EXPERTS TO FIND OUT!
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:13 AM on November 6, 2020

there seems to be an assumption that someone with bones and teeth that are categorized as "female" is the same as someone who is living as a woman.

Broke: In hunter-gatherer societies, men did the hunting.
Woke: In hunter-gatherer societies, mostly men and some women did the hunting.
Bespoke: In hunter-gatherer societies, cis men and trans men did the hunting.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:28 AM on November 6, 2020