Study in Spain Investigates Neolithic Gender Inequality

SEVILLE, SPAIN—According to a report in Cosmos Magazine, archaeologists led by Marta Cintas-Peña and Leonardo García Sanjuán of the University of Seville reviewed more than 500 Neolithic burials at 21 archaeological sites on the Iberian Peninsula. They found that at the 198 graves where the sex of the deceased could be determined, there were 1.5 male graves for every female grave. The researchers said that children’s graves were also underrepresented in the sample. “The quantity of males cannot be natural,” Cintas-Peña said. The study indicates that men were more likely to be buried with arrowheads and other projectiles, and more likely to have signs of injury or violent death, while women were more likely to be buried with ceramics. However, the researchers added, the most elaborate graves in the cemeteries did not necessarily belong to men. They suggest gender differences, and male predominance in terms of violence, arose along with social inequalities as people accumulated private property. “If we can say that gender inequality began in the Neolithic, or in the Copper Age or in any period, it means that it's something cultural, it’s not something biologically determined,” Cintas-Peña explained. For more, go to “Neolithic FaceTime.”