Invisible Women of Prehistory

We often think of history as a linear development in which we are steadily moving out of a violent and patriarchal past to a more equitable and peaceful future. While we have no shortage of wars – and the incidence of violence against women is alarmingly high – we are told that humans have never lived in such peaceful times, that our predecessors were violent, and that patriarchy is inevitable and universal. But what if none of this were true, and we are descended from peaceful societies in which women were respected and equal to men? Based on many years of research into ancient history and prehistory, Judy Foster and linguist Marlene Derlet argue that three million years of peace, a period when women’s status in society was much higher than it is now, preceded the last six thousand years of war during which men have come to hold power over women. They challenge the academic resistance to these ideas and re-examine both the archaeological work of Marjia Gimbutas and recent research into the prehistories of Africa, East and South Asia, the Americas, Australia, South-East Asia, and Oceania.