Woman the hunter: The archaeological evidence

Abstract

The Paleo‐fantasy of a deep history to a sexual division of labor, often described as “Man the Hunter and Woman the Gatherer,” continues to dominate the literature. We see it used as the default hypothesis in anatomical and physiological reconstructions of the past as well as studies of modern people evoking evolutionary explanations. However, the idea of a strict sexual labor division in the Paleolithic is an assumption with little supporting evidence, which reflects a failure to question how modern gender roles color our reconstructions of the past. Here we present examples to support women's roles as hunters in the past as well as challenge oft‐cited interpretations of the material culture. Such evidence includes stone tool function, diet, art, anatomy and paleopathology, and burials. By pulling together the current state of the archaeological evidence along with the modern human physiology presented in the accompanying paper (Ocobock and Lacy, this issue), we argue that not only are women well‐suited to endurance activities like hunting, but there is little evidence to support that they were not hunting in the Paleolithic. Going forward, paleoanthropology should embrace the idea that all sexes contributed equally to life in the past, including via hunting activities.

The effects of the industrial transition on lower limb bone structure: A comparison of the inhabitants of Pecos Pueblo and present‐day Indigenous peoples of New Mexico

“…This is also concordant with the higher levels of overall bone robusticity among Pecos females than present-day females. These patterns also do not imply that females at Pecos Pueblo did not engage in some activities, including hunting, that entailed long-distance travel-even in societies with traditional gendered division of labor, there is overlap between the sexes in such activities (Lacy & Ocobock, 2024;Temple et al, 2023). The temporal change in sexual dimorphism of bone shape observed in the present study is most likely to reflect concurrent changes in average levels of long-distance travel within the sexes, and the lack of gender-related differences among contemporary industrial societies in general.…”

Response to “Can women hunt? Yes, did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.”

“…Furthermore, Martin and colleagues suggest, through a quote taken out of context, that we diminish the value of mothering and gathering activities. We explicitly discuss the importance of gathering and the overemphasis on hunting and meat in Lacy and Ocobock (2024), and the quote they cited was summarizing a direct quote from Man the Hunter, not our own assertion. We did not argue and never would that mothering, "domestic" roles, or gathering are less skilled or less demanding, nor do we minimize the costs of reproduction.…”