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A Critical Analysis of Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China Shu Xin Chen Mcgill University, [email protected]

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A Critical Analysis of Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China Shu Xin Chen Mcgill University, Shu.X.Chen@Mail.Mcgill.Ca View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Scholarship@Western Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology Volume 22 | Issue 1 Article 4 2014 The rC eation of Female Origin Myth: A Critical Analysis of Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China Shu Xin Chen McGill University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, East Asian Languages and Societies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Chen, Shu Xin (2014) "The rC eation of Female Origin Myth: A Critical Analysis of Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China," Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology: Vol. 22: Iss. 1, Article 4. Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol22/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Totem: The nivU ersity of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The rC eation of Female Origin Myth: A Critical Analysis of Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China Abstract This essay explores and critiques the creation of female origin myths in the archaeology of Neolithic China. The first example is the debate surrounding the gender relations in the Yangshao culture. The es cond half of the paper focuses on whether or not the possible goddess worship in the Hongshan culture can shed light on the understanding of women. It concludes by stating this kind of gynocentric archaeology does not provide an accurate picture of gender in Neolithic China, or propel the feminist agenda. Keywords gender, archaeology, Neolithic, China, Yangshao Culture, Hongshan Culture Acknowledgements Professor Maria Starzmann has provided effective guidance for this work. I also want to thank Professor Gwen Bennett, because her lecture on the Banpo site has inspired me to write this article. This article is available in Totem: The nivU ersity of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol22/ iss1/4 Chen: Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China The Creation of Female Origin Myths: A or propel the feminist agenda. However, Critical Analysis of Gender in the Cynthia Eller (2006:185) argues that despite Archaeology of Neolithic China all the problems with gynocentric myth, it still addresses “one of feminist movement’s Shu Xin Chen most difficult questions: How can women attain real power when it seems we have In the field of archaeology, gender has never had it before?” been a subject of constant debate. Essentially, the problem seems to center on the visibility, The archaeological studies of Neolithic as well as the (mis)representation of gender China face similar problems as in Western in archaeological analyses, which oftentimes academia, though the concerns may have means the overrepresentation of men over been more associated with the dogmatic women. For instance, as demonstrated in restrictions brought by national ideology and Lisbeth Skogstrand’s (2010) critical analysis politics than feminist movements. For of androcentric archaeology, the two case instance, the analyses on the Yangshao studies on ancient Scandinavian societies culture have changed through time along tend to have an overall focus on presumed with the diminished influence of the Marxist male roles and activities, as well as paradigm on archaeology. Although recent interpretations from the standpoint of archaeological studies have been fairly free middle-age, middle-class and Western white from the influence of political rhetoric, men. Indeed, this kind of biased and archaeologists still choose a rather intuitive imbalanced analyses of archaeological approach that has been biased by the evidence not only fails to acknowledge contemporary social norms and values women’s roles in the societies in question regarding the social structure and gender and hence provide a full picture of their relations of the society in question, as is social structures, but also tells very little exemplified by the interpretations of the about men themselves, since they are archaeological findings of the Hongshan considered the norm within those societies. culture. Consequently, this kind of myth-creating often masks the accurate What is equally problematic and gender dynamics of the past, as well as fails uninformative is the gynocentric to propel the feminist agenda. overestimation and over-interpretation of women’s roles in some other societies. In this Women in the Yangshao Culture regard, women are often portrayed as First discovered by Swedish goddess worshippers that enjoyed higher archaeologist and geologist Johan Gunnar status in ancient societies, which is Andersson in 1921, the Yangshao Culture, a exemplified by James Mellaart’s “Mother Neolithic society from about 5000 to 3000 Goddess” theory regarding Çatalhöyük and BC in Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi, was Marija Gimbutas’ expansion on said theory traditionally considered the origin of Chinese (Meskell 1998). Similar to androcentric civilization (Peterson and Shelach 2010:247). archaeology, the lack of analysis on men and Hosted by the Institute of Archaeology in the the overall gender dynamics in the approach Academia Sinica (IAAS), a full-scale to archaeological evidence does not tell the excavation of Banpo village, the type site of true story of women’s roles in those contexts, the Yangshao culture, was undertaken from 1954 to 1957 (IAAS and Pan P’o Museum 24 Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2014 Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 22 [2014], Iss. 1, Art. 4 1963:8). It is located on a terrace by the Chan matriarchal society is their agricultural River, a branch of the Wei River, in the practice. It was concluded that people at Shaanxi Province of northern China, which Banpo had already developed primitive is covered with loess. According to the initial agriculture and animal husbandry, which report of findings (IAAS and Pan P’o were mostly performed by women, though Museum 1953:9), the site was about 50,000 hunting and gathering were still necessary in m2 in size, and elongated from north to south. supplementing the low production of food There were 46 houses at the site, most of (IAAS and Pan P’o Museum 1963:225). which were concentrated in the south, Similarly, women were also in charge of surrounded by a moat. To the north of the pottery making, at least before the invention residential and economic area was the of the potter’s wheel (IAAS and Pan P’o cemetery. In the eastern section of the site Museum 1963:228). Based on these were the kilns, whereas the western part was economic roles of women, archaeologists destroyed before the excavation (IAAS and maintained that the Yangshao society was Pan P’o Museum 1963:9). organized based on matrilocal and matrilineal pairing marriage (IAAS and Pan The earlier archaeological analyses P’o Museum 1963:225). Since the nature of conducted on Banpo village and Yangshao this kind of union was unstable, villages culture as a whole have been heavily were actually communes that consisted of influenced by the Marxist paradigm that has several households that shared the same been dominating the national ideological kinship, where women were the primary discourse ever since the communist caretakers of their children and the heads of government was established in 1949. As a their households, which in turn dictated their result, archaeologists often tried to higher social status than men (IAAS and Pan superimpose Marxist historical materialism P’o Museum 1963:225). and its unilineal evolutionary model onto their findings. In terms of Neolithic society, Nevertheless, it was the burial sites the Marxist doctrines maintain that it must uncovered in Banpo village that solidified have been a primitive egalitarian matrilineal archaeologists’ argument regarding women’s society, which later developed into a privileges in the Yangshao culture. First, stratified patriarchal one (Shelach 2004:13). those multi-burials, which were laid out Moreover, in the earlier years of the People’s according to sex, served as evidence of Republic of China, archaeology had been matrilineal society because they exploited to serve current political agendas. demonstrated the preferential treatments. Mao Zedong even specifically stated that Specifically, according to the report, women archaeologists should “let the past serve the could be buried with their children while present” (qtd. in Chang 1981:167). It is men could not (IAAS and Pan P’o Museum therefore reasonable to suggest that the state 1963:226). Similarly, the discovery of a was trying to create an egalitarian prehistoric young girl’s grave with a substantial amount China to divert public attention away from of burial goods that indicated she might have the possible social stigma of women and to been the daughter of a clan leader seemingly legitimize their communist reign and goals. supported this hypothesis as well (IAAS and Pan P’o Museum1963:226), even though the One of the aspects of Yangshao culture ownership of her burial goods were unclear, that arguably supports the assumption of a 25 http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol22/iss1/4 Chen: Gender in the Archaeology of Neolithic China and could also suggest early social it is still a telling example of the misleading stratification. In addition, spouses were not effect of recreating a matrilineal and buried together, because they did not share matrilocal society based on ambiguous the same bloodline, which, according to the evidence. It is especially ironic, given the initial archaeological analysis, was also seen fact that even during the formation years of as proof for the existence of matrilineal the communist party, female cadres’ society (IAAS and Pan P’o Museum positions have been dependent on their 1963:226).
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