Gender Identity and Mortuary Analysis in Prehistory

The social-constructionist understanding of gender as the cultural elaboration of sex has been criticized by third-wave feminists for its propensity to essentialize gender and its adherence to a binary, two sex/two gender model. Despite challenges to this hegemonic stance, gender archaeology has yet to become an integral and assumed part of archaeology’s foundational principles and remains at the periphery of disciplinary research. As such, the assumption that this heteronormative framework is both universal and natural remains well entrenched in archaeological mortuary analysis. It is the goal here to deconstruct this familiar and comfortable paradigm and expose the presentism that perpetuates it. As prehistoric graves pose the greatest challenge in assigning gender identities, lacking written documentation and cultural narratives that aid interpretation, the focus here will be to address the challenges of decrypting gender identities in a prehistoric context.