Male-dominated cave cultures likely a myth, researcher says

An image of a man preparing to hurl a spear at a woolly mammoth was projected to a standing-room-only crowd on Saturday in the USU Museum of Anthropology, located in Old Main.

It is this kind of image that James Adovasio has traveled the world trying to debunk.

There is explicit evidence women played a much larger role in pre-historic society than they receive credit for, Adovasio said.

The Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute founder, who has doctorates in archaeology and anthropology, said that when it comes to prehistory there is an unbalanced emphasis on big game.

“You’re not going to stand in front of an imperial mammoth with a spear and expect that it’s going to die before you do,” he said.

Adovasio said much of what his research team has found in its investigations of prehistoric cultures has been plant material and remains from small game – evidence which points to a lifestyle, “that didn’t pivot around mature age males killing elephants.”
Instead of spear hunting, Adovasio said he found nets which were used for “terrestrial net-hunting” approximately 8,000 years ago.

“It sure as hell isn’t exciting,” Adovasio said. “Here’s a net full of critters, you club them, you collect them. Nothing like standing in front of an elephant.”
The role of women was much more intricate than once thought, Adovasio said. Reevaluation of previous archaeological dig sites yielded data that changed thoughts that these Paleolithic cultures were once predominately male-oriented.

The cultures’ labor was equally distributed between men and women, Adovasio said.

“Divorcing those in the preset with views which are, in effect, 100 years old is a very, very difficult thing to do,” Adovasio said, “even with contradictory information.”
The choice to bring Adovasio to speak was easy, said Elizabeth Sutton, a doctorial candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the USU Museum of Anthropology curator.
“Not many archaeologists try to focus equal on the roles of women – a lot of it is focused on men, so we thought it would be interesting to offer a different perspective,” Sutton said.
Sutton said she was pleased with the turnout.

“It was great that we could get lots of people to show up who are interested in learning more about archeology and anthropology,” she said.

“(The lecture) will definitely help me think about women in the prehistoric record... rather than just stone artifacts,” said Megan Bloxham, a graduate student studying anthropology.

Sutton said that while much of what Adovasio spoke about in his lecture is becoming more accepted in academic circles, it had not yet started to “trickle down” to university classrooms.

“I would like to see this become more common in anthropology curriculum,” Sutton said.

David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.