Engendered Archaeologies Sandra Monto ´n-Subı ´as 1 and William Meyer 2 1 Departament d’Humanitats, ICREA/Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain 2 Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA Introduction Feminist principles made a formal entry into archaeology in the late 1970s, as scholars – the majority of whom were women – began to draw attention to the androcentric biases implicit in archaeological interpretations of the past. Further, these writers noted the degree to which similar patriarchal biases shaped the political economy of the discipline itself, to the general disadvantage of women. In the years to come, these early sociopolitical concerns would be expanded upon by subsequent feminist and queer archaeologists, who in addition identified heterosexist biases in the discipline. These authors called for a better representation of women, men, and others in the past (which had its own political implications in the present) and a commitment to improving the presence of women and sexual minorities among the practi- tioners of archaeology. This “double politics of representation” has often been acknowledged as the main – or even the only – contribution of these archaeologies. Yet, without downplaying the importance of representation, it should be noted that engendered archaeologies have significantly improved archaeology in general through the provision of alternative historical interpretations, the promotion of self-criticism and reflexivity within the discipline, and the development of new practices and fields of inquiry. Definition The term “engendered archaeologies” designates all those archaeologies that explicitly problematize sex, gender, and/or sexuality in interpretations of the past and/or in the practice of the discipline itself. This term, therefore, encompasses the complex spectra of feminist, gender, and queer archaeologies. Although these archaeologies may overlap frequently in terms of theory, practice, and/or politics, it would be wrong to think that they always do so, as will be discussed below. Historical Background The Development of Feminist Archaeologies During the final years of the 1970s, a significant number of archaeologists entered into the debate on discrimination against women, and programs were developed to provide a better representation of women, both in the past and in the discipline itself. These developments were associated with the near-simultaneous arrival of “second-wave” feminism in the archaeological communities of Norway, Britain, and the United States, and its rapid spread to other areas of the globe. In Europe, the Norwegian workshop “Were they all men?” (convened in 1979, though only published in 1987 [Bertelsen et al. 1987]), the journal and network K.A.N., and the TAG ses- sion “Feminist Perspectives on the Past,” cele- brated in 1982, were among the first avenues for such objectives. In the United States, the authors of the “Woman the gatherer” movement in anthropology, in direct response to the success of the landmark 1966 “Man the hunter” confer- ence and later book of the same name, identified sexist biases behind scientific production and pioneered the study of the female role in the history of humankind. In the 1970s, it was salient to recognize that prevailing conceptions of the past reflected par- ticular researchers’ perspectives, disfavored women, and legitimated hegemonic gender ide- ologies. Following the emergence of feminist women’s studies, many archaeological works aimed to make women visible, a logical effort to reestablish balance after several decades of neglect and stereotyping of women in the past. But also from the outset – at the height of E 2372 Engendered Archaeologies