Recognizing Women in the Archaeological Record

摘要

Primary sexual characteristics are usually absent in the archaeological record. The recovered secondary sex markers in bone morphology or mortuary context reflect the lifelong integrated biocultural experience of the individual man or woman. Internal patterns of variability within and between sexes can be recognized but are too frequently masked by traditional descriptive and univariate analyses. Fortunately, a more detailed picture of life experience is gained by analyzing chemical composition (isotopic and elemental) of hard tissues using an analytical anthropology approach and by examining the variation in novel ways. 7 figs. (ERA citation 13:018077)