During a 2018 archaeological excavation in Peru, scientists discovered evidence that potentially overturns the “man-the-hunter” hypothesis: the remains of a 9,000-year-old female hunter. The scientists say this not only means our species’ deep hunter-gatherer past is likely more equitable than we may think, but also helps to rebut the idea that gender-based inequalities in pay or rank are “natural.”
Matthew Verdolivo/UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services
Gizmodo reported on the discovery, which the scientists described in a study recently published in the journal, Science Advances. The team found the 9,000-year-old female hunter at a high-altitude site in the Andes Mountains; buried with a hunting toolkit of stone projectile points, as well as animal processing tools.
“We believe that these findings are particularly timely in light of contemporary conversations surrounding gendered labor practices and inequality,” Randy Haas, the lead author of the study, said in a UC Davis press release. Haas, an assistant professor of anthropology at UC Davis, also said this discovery is clear evidence of a fairly equal “sexual division of labor” in early human societies.
Randall Haas, University of California, Davis
Haas and his colleagues say they’re able to determine this individual was a female hunter due to several reasons. In regards to determining the individual’s role, the scientists say people were commonly buried with the tools of their trade; and because this person had big-game hunting tools, she must’ve been a big-game hunter. The team was also able to identify the remains as female thanks to genetic analysis of its teeth.
And while it may seem myopic to say that hunter-gatherers during this epoch had a more equitable split amongst the sexes due to this one burial, the scientists say this is only one example amongst many.
Randall Haas, University of California, Davis
To determine if this burial was a one-off, the scientists reviewed records of contemporaneous burials; ones that occurred between the end of the Ice Age and the beginning of our current geological epoch. During this period, Haas et al. identified 429 individuals in the literature, from 107 sites in North and South America. Of those 429, the scientists say 11 were female, and 15 were male. This, the scientists say, is sufficient to support a “nontrivial” level of female participation in hunting during this period.
Randall Haas, University of California, Davis
Looking forward, the scientists say that this female-hunter burial raises new questions about the division of labor in early societies. More specifically, Haas and his colleagues say they want to further explore how gender roles changed over time with more hunter-gatherer populations in the Americas. As well as how they morphed into farming and capitalist societies, where hunting is a “decidedly male” activity.
Feature image: Matthew Verdolivo/UC Davis