The Effect of Gender Imbalances in Mesoamerican Lithic Studies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Gender in Archaeology over the Last 30+ Years" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While more women than men are getting PhDs in archaeology today, female lithicists continue to be outnumbered by their male counterparts. This is in part a result of outdated gendered conceptions about who can do certain types of archaeological field and laboratory work, and also related to deeply seated, western notions of male versus female tasks and domains. In Mesoamerica, lithic studies align with these outdated gendered conceptions and, we argue, the lack of diversity among lithicists has impacted the types of research questions asked, the analyses conducted, and the interpretations made, effectively leaving many stones unturned, or underinvestigated. We chronicle the contributions of female lithicists working in Mesoamerica in the last half century, paying close attention to the impact of regional differences in approaches to lithic studies in Mesoamerica. We conclude by recommending avenues by which lithic studies can become more inclusive and collaborative, and how the subfield can be more equitably encouraged among budding archaeologists.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Gender in Archaeology over the Last 30+ Years   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38086.0