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It’s always enjoyable to help debunk some conventional wisdom. Today I point you to the work of anthropologists Sarah Lacy of the University of Delaware and Cara Ocobock of the University of Notre Dame. Their recent research takes down the idea that Neanderthals and early modern humans assigned tasks based on gender. “Man the hunter” paired with “woman the gatherer” is more a reflection of the male scientists who came up with the concept and the gender roles of their own time, Lacy and Ocobock suggest, than of reality.
There’s no reason women couldn’t have contributed to the hunt – and in fact, certain aspects of female physiology mean they may well have been better suited for an activity like hunting that demands great physical endurance. Lacy and Ocobock deploy other evidence from the archaeological record that supports the idea that there was no gendered division of labor in our evolutionary past. “Our Paleolithic ancestors lived in a world where everyone in the band pulled their own weight, performing multiple tasks,” they write.
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In small-group, subsistence living, it makes sense for everyone to do lots of jobs.
gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Sarah Lacy, University of Delaware; Cara Ocobock, University of Notre Dame
Female bodies have an advantage in endurance ability that means Paleolithic women likely hunted game, not just gathered plants. The story is written in living and ancient human bodies.
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Science + Technology
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Daniel Lidar, University of Southern California
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Julie Pollock, University of Richmond
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Politics + Society
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Michael Beckley, Tufts University
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Benjamin Jensen, American University School of International Service
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Ethics + Religion
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Katrina Stack, University of Tennessee; Rebecca Sheehan, Oklahoma State University
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Shannon Toll, University of Dayton
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Podcast 🎙️
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From the frontline battle against antibiotic resistance in Nigeria, to the techniques being used to find new antibiotics. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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