1. From distinctive to plain and blurred: Gender expression in Early Iron Age burials from Latium Vetus
- Author
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Venderbos, Ilona and Venderbos, Ilona
- Abstract
FROM DISTINCTIVE TO PLAIN AND BLURRED GENDER EXPRESSION IN EARLY IRON AGE BURIALS FROM LATIUM VETUS Archaeologists, working on Iron Age Etruria and Campania, have recently pointed out the importance of gender in processes of social stratification during the first centuries of the first Millenium BC. They show that, in the funerary context, gender could be ideologically constructed in order to emphasise social distinctions and status. With regard to Latium, however, no research has yet been carried out on this subject. Such research is important in order to provide additional information on the earliest phases of social stratification in the proto-urban centres in Latium. The aim of this thesis is therefore to show that gender expression in elite burials from Latium Vetus started to transform and blur from the beginning of the Early Iron Age. In order to reach this aim, the following hypothesis was developed: the blurring of gender boundaries in Latial burials was rooted in the phases preceding the Orientalising period, and can be connected to an emergent proto-urban elite. To test this hypothesis, a diachronic approach with a focus on change is adopted. In addition, recent insights from gender and funerary archaeology are adopted for interpretative purposes. The central source material consists of tombs. LP I (i.e., Final Bronze Age 3) serves as a starting point. A reconstruction of the evidence for gender in Latial burials from this period, shows that elites used two gender-specific stereotypes to explicitly play up gender in the funerary record. A third type cut across gender boundaries and also occurred independently. The gender-specific stereotypes constituted individuals buried with a symbolic representation of an outfit reflecting gendered ideals, lifestyle and activities. The third, gender-neutral type was used by others, who mainly emphasised their position and relations within society, and downplayed other aspects including gender. The first transformations
- Published
- 2022