Archaeologies of Motherhood
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeologies of Motherhood" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Since Conkey and Spector’s groundbreaking work on feminist archaeology, the field has significantly expanded its scope to encompass gender archaeology, queer archaeology, and archaeology of children, women, and indigeneity. While archaeology of motherhood has been discussed and examined, it has largely remained “in the shadow” of other significant topics. This session aims to understand how mothers have healed the maternal body; what practical (magical) solutions did they use to prevent pregnancies, have safe deliveries, and induce lactation? This session presents papers from various disciplines that will examine topics that vary from wet nurses in Ancient Egypt to grandmothers in Ancient Greece; while also presenting the material culture of mothers and infants from the Eastern Mediterranean to Roman Britain. Two other papers will study devotional therapeutics for (in)fertility and motherhood in Austria, in addition to maternal marginalization and infant mortality in New Zealand.
Other Keywords
Gender and Childhood •
Iconography and epigraphy •
Motherhood •
Ritual •
Historiography •
Ceramic Analysis •
Historic •
Roman •
Structural Violence •
Infant Mortality
Geographic Keywords
Principality of Monaco (Country) •
Kingdom of Spain (Country) •
Principality of Andorra (Country) •
Portuguese Republic (Country) •
Republic of Turkey (Country) •
Italian Republic (Country) •
State of Israel (Country) •
West Bank (Country) •
Hellenic Republic (Country) •
Gaza Strip (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
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Artifacts of Motherhood: Revisiting the AUB Museum Collection (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The AUB Museum collection of motherhood encompasses amulets, infant feeding bottles, and figurines. All these items are connected to the maternal body and specifically to motherhood. However, finding and identifying such artifacts is challenging as they might resemble ordinary objects: Infant feeding bottles could have been used as oil lamp fillers, droppers,...
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Food for Thought? The Use of Ceramic “Baby” Bottles in Roman Britain (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since the mid-nineteenth century in Britain, a small collection of Roman spouted ceramic vessels have been assigned the functional description of “infant feeders” or “baby bottles,” primarily through their recovery from infant and child burial contexts. Vessels of this type have been recorded from across the Roman Empire, yet in Britain they are relatively...
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Maternal Marginalization and Infant Mortality in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1850–1940 (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. New Zealand was the “poster child” for relatively low infant mortality rates in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries compared with other OECD countries; however, little is known about how social disadvantage may have increased the mortality rates for marginalized groups. We investigate the causes of death and age at death of infants (one year of age...
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No Country for Old Crones: Exploring the Presence of Grandmothers in the Ancient Greek Archaeological Record (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In scholarship, there has been a past tendency to ignore and obfuscate mortal mothers; this also extends to the mothers who live to see their grandchildren. While there has been a sentiment in the past that motherhood is invisible in the archaeological record, there has been very little consideration given to the presence and roles of grandmothers in ancient...
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Picturing the Written, Read, and Spoken Prayers to Zell: Devotional Therapeutics for (In)Fertility and Motherhood at Mariazell (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the mountains of the Austrian province of Styria, the Catholic pilgrimage shrine of Mariazell claimed many healing miracles during the later Middle Ages (ca. 1200–1550). Notably, many of these miracles address ailments of fertility and parenthood, including infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death. Early sixteenth century visual culture of...
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Relationships and Connections through Breast Milk: An Examination of Ancient Egyptian Perspectives on Breastfeeding (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. To understand the usage of breastfeeding in ancient Egyptian art and ritual it is necessary to examine and explore the ancient perspectives and beliefs which contextualized their creation. This includes the role of breastfeeding in a child’s upbringing and growth as well as the relationship between a child and its nurse (whether mother or wet-nurse) with my...