Women's work : the first 20,000 years
Edition
Thirtieth anniversary edition.
Publication Information
New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2024]
Physical Description
xviii, 360 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm
Summary
"Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing clothing created from spun fibers. In Women's Work, archaeologist-linguist Elizabeth Wayland Barber illuminates the vital role women held in pre-industrial societies. With a distinctive and innovative approach to ancient remains, Barber examines ancient textiles from Stone Age string skirts and ancient Egyptian sleeved tunics to intricate Neolithic Swiss linens and colorfully patterned Minoan dresses, offering us captivating glimpses into the daily lives of women through the cloth they made and wore."--
Contents
- A tradition with a reason : why textiles were traditionally women's work
- The string revolution : life in the Palaeolithic
- Courtyard sisterhood : horticultural society in the Neolithic
- Island fever : Bronze Age horticultural survivals : Minoans and others
- More than hearts on our sleeves : the functions of cloth and clothing in society
- Elements of the code : symbolism in cloth and clothing
- Cloth for the caravans : early urban manufacture in the Bronze Age Near East
- Land of linen : Middle Kingdom Egypt
- The golden spindle : outworker industries for the elite : the Mycenaeans
- Behind the myths : women's work as reflected in textile myths
- Plain or fancy, new or tried and true : Late Bronze and Iron Age urban industries
- Postscript: Finding the invisible : methods of research.