1. Exploration of the sexual division of labour in prehistoric Cyprus : an integrated study of skeletal activity patterns and archaeological data
- Author
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Monaco, Martina, Craig-Atkins, Elizabeth, and Sherratt, Susan
- Subjects
939 - Abstract
Activity-related stress markers have successfully provided biomechanical models to reconstruct nuanced understandings of daily life among ancient as well as modern populations. Whilst caution is advised in relating skeletal activity markers with specific occupations, the insight they offer into activity patterns when combined with data from archaeological records, ethnographical parallels, and large datasets of comparative skeletal evidence allows bioarcheologists to achieve in-depth reconstructions of everyday tasks and activities. This doctoral thesis provides the first substantial body of data on muscle development, articular degradation, and activity-induced dental modifications of Middle Chalcolithic (ca 3600/3400-2700 BC) to Late Bronze Age (ca 1680/1650-1100 BC) Cypriot communities. The primary aim of this research is to fill the gap in knowledge concerning this significant period and location. Indeed, a bioarchaeological approach in documenting lifestyles of past populations has been recently adopted in several archaeological settings, yet, there remain very few reconstructions from ancient Near Eastern populations (Baker, Terhune & Papalexandrou 2012; Boutin 2012) and none focused on prehistory (Sheridan 2017, p. 129). For Cyprus, the evaluation of these indicators has been addressed in appendices of final site monographs or, more rarely, synthesized in regional journals, which has slowed down its integrations into the wider bioarchaeological literature (Sheridan 2017, p. 115). Standardized and widely-adopted methods to score entheseal changes, osteoarthritis, and extramasticatory dental wear were employed to produce a dataset which enabled comparisons of the level of muscle and joint development and non-masticatory dental wear of the examined samples. The analysis of data was conducted on two levels: the intra-population level ensured a greater understanding of the variation in activity patterns within each community; the interpopulation level examined changes in workload over time resulting from the transition from household to more intensive, specialized production. The site-by-site and diachronic analysis highlighted differences in the use of the muscles under consideration between the different communities; and between the periods. These differences were essentially sex-based in each context: females displayed muscle development which could be compatible with tasks related to food processing (pounding, grinding), in the Chalcolithic; textile and food processing (milking) in the Philia Middle Bronze Age; textile and food processing in the Late Bronze Age. Males seem to have experienced increasing stress in muscles traditionally associated with digging or hoeing in all the periods. The discussion of the results has benefited from a large amount of information concerning flora and fauna existent at the timing of occupation of the relevant sites, ceramic or stone assemblages mostly designed for the satisfaction of primary needs such as food processing or textile production. All these types of evidence were integrated into a broader exploration of the activity patterns which had arisen, and this allowed to hypothesize the distribution of archaeologicallydocumented activities within the groups under consideration. In conclusion, activity-related stress markers have proven to be a powerful tool in generating behavioural models and corroborating hypotheses based on other aspects of the archaeological record.
- Published
- 2021