What Bj 581 Can Tell Us About Gender Roles

Assumptions regarding gender roles do not just render women invisible in the archaeological record, they dilute our understanding of past societies and the enormous complexity of human achievement and activity. Photograph: Stamatoyoshi/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The biological sex estimation, confirmed by DNA of Bj 581 is a vast and significant finding that could potentially turn the world of anthropological archaeology out of the water. Learn in this article how our preconceived notions of gender roles and prolific androcentrism within the community limits our ability to understand past cultures.

"These types of assumptions hurt the scientific endeavour of archaeology. Assumptions regarding gender roles do not just render women invisible in the archaeological record, assumptions regarding gender roles dilute our understanding of past societies and the enormous complexity of human achievements and activities. Not only are women invisible, but men are deterministic, and all of human history is nasty, brutish, and short."

Read this incredible article by the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/15/how-the-female-viking-warrior-was-written-out-of-history