No Country for Old Crones: Exploring the Presence of Grandmothers in the Ancient Greek Archaeological Record

Summary

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 Greek society. In looking beyond the nuclear family paradigm, it is possible to appreciate the importance of extended family in the role of childcare, and support for new mothers. By exploring a variety of evidence types, it is clear to see the presence and position of grandmothers in the public sphere. In this paper, the artistic representations of grandmothers will be explored, and the troubling stereotype of the “evil mother-in-law” will be discussed and challenged.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Archaeologies of Motherhood

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37923.0