VAMOS The value of mothers to society
|
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
|
DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
|
VAMOS The value of mothers to society
ISBN 978-3-7001-8474-4 Online Edition
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
S. 1 - 681 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Abstract: ‘Bodies, identities and social relations in Bronze and Iron Age Central Europe’ presents the results of more than a decade of applied body-centred research. The ‘archaeology of the body’ (e.g. Borić and Robb 2008, Hamilakis, Pluciennik and Tarlow 2002, Rebay-Salisbury 2016a, Rebay-Salisbury, Sørensen and Hughes 2010, Robb and Harris 2013, Sofaer 2006) takes the physical human body as a lens to better understand how past people have experienced their world. It aims to analyse ‘the production and experience of lived bodies in the past through the juxtaposition of traces of body practices, idealised representations, and evidence of the effects of habitual gestures, postures, and consumption practices on the corporal body’ (Joyce 2005: 139). This perspective is both individual and collective; it aims to capture the individual, unique experience of past persons and wider, cultural ways of relating to the world through cultured bodies. Published Online: 2019/08/19 10:05:00 Document Date: 2019/03/15 12:33:00 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5576 0x003ad3e2 Rights: .
Analysing the link between reproduction and women’s social status, this project explores social responses to pregnancy, birth and childrearing from the late Neolithic to the late Iron Age (c. 3000–15 BC) through case studies in central Europe. Motherhood and childrearing, often seen as natural, mundane and inevitable parts of women’s lives, are also cultural and historically contingent practices that build the foundations of societies. Exploring the value of mothers to society aids in understanding important long-term developments such as social stratification, increasing population density and the entrenching of gender roles during the three millennia under investigation.
Bringing together the latest developments in archaeological science, including palaeo-pathology, dental analysis, ancient DNA and isotope analyses, with innovative interpretative approaches, this project explores whetherall women were expected to become mothers, highlights alternative lifeways, evaluates risks and consequences of becoming a mother and reflects on the social value of reproductive success.
It is the first study that systematically predicts the probability of whether or not a woman has given birth using palaeo-pathological markers, explores the age at first motherhood and the number of children per woman, and contextualises the findings with an in-depth status analysis of women’s graves.
Graves of pregnant women, double burials of women and children, and infant burials provide further data. The study extends to childrearing (care, feeding, but also abuse, neglect and infanticide) and explores how children were treated after death for insights into their significance. Current political discourses about mothers in society and workforce frequently refer to ‘natural’ and ‘ancient’ childrearing practices. This project contributes significantly to our understanding of motherhood and counter naive narratives of childrearing in prehistory with science-based information.
…
|
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |