Works and Femininities in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Lower Danube (c. 1350–800 BC)

This chapter analyses the evolution of gender relationships in the later part of the Late Bronze Age and early part of the Early Iron Age in the Lower Danube (c. 1350–800 BC). It takes as a starting point studies of the preceding period (c. 1600/1550–1350 BC), which argue that the latter was characterized not only by a strongly patriarchal regime and a rigorous separation between the various kinds of work of men and women, but also by liberal women achieving a better social status. For the period under study, this paper argues that this division between androtechnics and gynotechnics persists and identifies potters and weavers as subdivisions of gynotechnics. Further, it relies on J.-P. Warnier’s argument that interaction with a specific material culture engenders a corresponding sensori-affective-motor conduct and, consequently, a specific subjectivity. It concludes that potters and weavers had very different subjectivities and constituted two variants of femininity previously unknown for the region of study. It also argues that gender archaeology can lead to the identification of gender variants otherwise unattested by anthropology and sociology, as well as to a reconsideration by archaeologists of material culture – in this particular case, in terms of the weights of the pots and what it meant to interact with them in terms of bodies and subjectivities.