Battle-axes and binary prehistorians A reassessment of the gender ideology of the supra-regional Corded Ware culture, in Europe of the third millennium BCE LOUISE OLERUD Fig. front page – Artist impression of battle-axe warriors from the Corded Ware culture, as part of the permanent exhibition on the Stone Age at Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus (own photo). Battle-axes and binary prehistorians: A reassessment of the gender ideology of the supra-regional Corded Ware culture, in Europe of the third millennium BCE Louise Olerud BA, 1530836 [email protected] RMA Thesis Archaeology, 1046WTY, 35 EC Thesis supervisor: prof.dr. D. R. Fontijn RMA Prehistoric Farming Communities in Europe Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology Zeist, 16 December 2019, definitive version Table of content Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................................. 8 Part I – Theory & Methodology ............................................................................................................ 9 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................10 1.1 The third millennium BCE: synopsis of discourse ........................................................10 1.2 Problem statement ....................................................................................................................12 1.2.1 The ‘grand narrative’ of the third millennium BCE .............................................12 1.2.2 Supra-regional uniformity and regional variability ............................................14 1.2.3 Gender in the Corded Ware culture ...........................................................................14 1.3 Aims and approaches of present research .......................................................................17 1.4 Research questions ....................................................................................................................17 1.5 Methodology .................................................................................................................................18 1.6 Dataset ............................................................................................................................................20 1.7 Outline of thesis ..........................................................................................................................20 2 In search of an applied gender archaeology: theoretical framework.................22 2.1 Gender and archaeology: a history of thought ...............................................................22 2.2 Defining gender I: gender and sex .......................................................................................23 2.3 Defining gender II: age and personhood...........................................................................25 2.4 Studying gender I: mortuary archaeology and intersectionality............................26 2.4.1 The limitations of mortuary archaeology for studying gender .......................27 2.4.2 The potentials of mortuary archaeology for studying gender ........................29 2.5 Studying gender II: material culture and selective deposition................................30 2.5.1 The limitations of material culture for studying gender ...................................31 2.5.2 The potentials of material culture for studying gender .....................................32 2.6 Studying gender III: scales of gender .................................................................................33 4 3 Gender in the Corded Ware culture ..................................................................................34 3.1 Introduction: the Corded Ware culture and its research history ...........................34 3.1.1 The discovery of the Corded Ware culture..............................................................34 3.1.2 Revised CW chronologies ...............................................................................................35 3.1.3 The nature of the CW society ........................................................................................37 3.1.4 Recent trends in CW research: scientific methods...............................................38 3.1.5 Lacunae in CW research: settlements .......................................................................40 3.2 Binary gender symbolism and male dominance? .........................................................42 3.2.1 The reasoning behind a CW binary gender symbolism .....................................43 3.2.2 Recent studies about CW gender .................................................................................44 3.3 The battle-axe as a symbol of masculinity .......................................................................47 3.3.1 Function and symbolism of battle-axes ....................................................................48 3.3.2 Symbols of femininity ......................................................................................................51 3.4 Selective deposition in the Corded Ware culture ..........................................................51 4 Practical methodology ...........................................................................................................53 4.1 Approaches ...................................................................................................................................53 4.1.1 Mortuary archaeology, practice theory and intersectionality.........................54 4.1.2 The qualities of material culture .................................................................................55 4.1.3 Selective deposition and supra-regional comparison ........................................55 4.2 Database and data collection .................................................................................................56 4.2.1 Database structure, variables and metadata ..........................................................56 4.2.2 Data entry and source material ....................................................................................58 4.3 Analytical tools ............................................................................................................................61 4.4 Limitations of methodology ...................................................................................................63 Part II – Results ........................................................................................................................................64 5 The Corded Ware culture in Bavaria ................................................................................65 5 5.1 Source criticism ...........................................................................................................................66 5.2 General results .............................................................................................................................67 5.3 Results I: the funerary context ..............................................................................................69 5.3.1 Body positions, sex and age ...........................................................................................77 5.3.2 Grave goods ..........................................................................................................................77 5.3.3 Gendered positions, gendered artefacts? .................................................................91 5.3 Results II: selective deposition .............................................................................................93 5.3.1 Depositions ...........................................................................................................................93 5.3.2 Single finds............................................................................................................................93 5.3.3 Gendered selective deposition? ...................................................................................97 5.4 Preliminary conclusion: gendered practices in the Bavarian CWC? .................. 102 5.4.1 How has gender been expressed in funerary contexts? ................................. 103 5.4.2 How has gender been expressed through selective deposition? ................ 104 6 The Corded Ware culture in Southern Jutland .......................................................... 105 6.1 Source criticism ........................................................................................................................ 106 6.2 General results .......................................................................................................................... 107 6.3 Results I: the funerary context ........................................................................................... 110 6.3.1 Body positions, sex and age ........................................................................................ 119 6.3.2 Grave structures .............................................................................................................. 120 6.3.3 Grave goods ....................................................................................................................... 123 6.3.1 Gendered positions, gendered artefacts? .............................................................. 137 6.4 Results II: selective deposition .........................................................................................