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beyond Indiana Jones versus the Mother Goddess

Bob Trubshaw

The deeply entrenched ideology of Western culture has created biased thinking at the deepest levels of anthropological and scientific theory and method. This legacy of 'modernism' is being challenged from two main directions: firstly, by postmodern critiques and, secondly, by feminism. There are some similarities between the two movements but few feminists are willing to label themselves postmodernists and, similarly, many who might be described as postmodernists are profoundly sceptical of recent feminist thinking.

Those who have delved into the feminist approach re-emerge with uncompromising vigour:

The issues raised by taking gender seriously are extraordinarily varied and have significant ramifications...
(Conkey and Tringham 1995: 203–4)

The issues at stake are far from trivial. Postmodernism is challenging, among other things, the fundamental dichotomies of Enlightenment thought, dichotomies such as rational/irrational and subject/object. It is questioning the homocentricity of Enlightenment knowledge and even the status of "man" himself.
(Hekman 1990: 2)

... more than any approach within the human sciences, feminism does fundamental damage to the established traditions of working within archaeology...
(Thomas 1992: 12)

This is not to say that archaeology and feminism had not already crossed paths, although the results have left a legacy which is far from admissible. Marija Gimbutas's interpretations of the early neolithic society at Catal Huyuk in Anatolia created the 'mythopoetics' of a peaceful, egalitarian, female-led society who worshipped a Great Mother Goddess. Gimbutas's ideas may be unacceptable to the current generation of academics but they have become thoroughly entrenched in popular literature, making Catal Huyuk the archaeological site par excellence for feminists. I have no wish to summarise all the reasons why Gimbutas is 'out of fashion' in academe as this has been done adequately elsewhere (see especially Meskell 1995 and 1996; also Conkey and Tringham 1995; Hamilton et al. 1996; Georgoudi 1992). What these researchers emphasise is that Gimbutas, although now the best-known of the advocates of a pan-neolithic 'Mother Goddess', was not alone. Indeed, a number of her key arguments are based on the interpretations of highly-respected male archaeologists of the 40s and 50s.

An example of the false logic in Gimbutas's interpretations can be seen in one of her best-known ideas, that the high frequency of 'Mother Goddess' images in the neolithic reflected the dominant position of women in society. However, history reveals that the presence of powerful goddesses in a religious pantheon rarely reflects anything about the role of females in that society. For instance, the prevalence of statues of the Virgin Mary in pre-Reformation churches in no way diminishes the profoundly misogynic inclinations of the Roman Catholic clergy. Female figurines do not 'express' female power and Gimbutas and her followers have perpetrated a non sequitur akin to observing that the popularity of Barbie dolls means that Goddess worship is widespread in American society.

from feminism to feminisms

When the term 'woman' is unpacked it contains a range of possible social identities e.g. variations in social status/wealth; young women; old women; priestesses; etc. In modern Western society, the challenges facing a poor, coloured, single-mother are distinct from the challenges facing an affluent 'bachelor girl' intent on creating a high-status career in the male-dominated world of commerce. In some traditional societies, the range of female roles is at least as varied. Just as there are various roles for women, so polemical feminism has also fragmented into distinct approaches, such that it is now more appropriate to refer to 'feminisms' rather than 'feminism'. What might be termed 'third-wave feminism' is concerned with culture, knowledge, language and representation.

many genders

A more lingering look at modern subcultures would also divulge a wide range of gender roles among those who are sexually 'straight' . Such variety is far from modern – traditional European society also knew of 'sexless women' (such as nuns) and, although the literature is scanty, must have coped with physical hermaphrodites (which naturally occur once in about 1,000 births although these are now 'corrected' by surgery).

The ambiguous status of women past child-bearing age has led to, on the one hand, their being acclaimed as healers or midwives while, on the other, running the risk of being ostracised as 'witches' (see Briggs 1996: 71; 270).

Even, as during the seventeenth century in England, when the cultural 'norm' is for women to be attached to fathers, husbands or (while 'in service') their masters, this does not prevent so-called 'masterless women' from leading their own lives – even though they caused consternation by defying conventional assumptions about women's dependence (Underdown 1985: 36–7).

Ultimately, in studying gender roles, one begins to examine how individuals experience life within specific social and cultural contexts. It is this which makes 'engendered studies' so distinct from the 'generalisations' which are still the normal approach to recreating the past.

the boys' club

The alternative to excavation is, of course, fieldwork and regional surveys. These have never been a 'macho' activity, despite the excellent results obtained, as much such work is performed by female archaeologists (see Moser 1996).

gender in folklore

Mythology has its own 'Gimbutas', although intriguingly it is a man who promoted a 'primordial matriarchy'. Inspired largely by Plutarch's treatise on Isis and Osiris, written about AD 120, Johann Jacob Bachofen published his major opus on 'The Mother Right' (Das Mutterrecht) in 1848. Bachofen does not use the term 'matriarchy' but rather such terms as 'maternal law' and 'gynecocracy'. His style of writing is 'part poetry, part science' but he develops a strongly dualistic view which identifies women with 'mother', 'nurse', 'seat' and 'site' of generation (Georgoudi 1992: 451). He suggests the human race first lived in a period of 'chthonian materialism' (with undisciplined sexual relations in the manner of Aphrodite) followed by a more ordered materialism incorporating both agriculture and marriage. This phase is exemplified by Demeter, leading to a Dionysiac gynecocracy where 'the fragility and precariousness of the father's victory' leads to paternal principles beginning to dominate (Georgoudi 1992: 451–4).

Praised by some and criticised by others, Bachofen's work on matriarchy is still the starting point for all histories of matriarchy – including both interpretations based on psychoanalysis and on Marxist-influenced thought. However, the difficulties of Bachofen's complex prose mean that his ideas have been overly simplified or are inaccurately presented. However, even if Bachofen's ideas received a lukewarm welcome in the conservative world of Classical studies, his notions are still pervasive. Those who have embarked on a critical re-examination of Bachofen find that they are removing nearly all the lower levels of the 'tower of cards' making up the prevailing interpretations of the Classical societies.

It should be emphasised that most of the researchers who are re-examining the gender prejudices of mythology and early societies, while often female, are not polemical feminists. In The Feminist Companion to Mythology (Larrington 1992) world mythology is examined by 21 female authors with a special emphasis on the identity and function of female mythical figures. In A History of Women: From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints (Pantel 1992), 15 women and a solitary man similarly explore how women have been depicted in early historical records. Clearly, in the pre-medieval eras which are being discussed in these books, history and mythology intermingle closely. Such 'piecemeal' examination of specific historical societies reveals a denial of women's identity in myth, religion and culture (see also Eilberg-Swartz and Doniger 1995; and Birrell 1996 for a rare example of a feminist view of Chinese myths).

Taking as an example the Germanic warbands of the early medieval era, usually considered to be especially 'macho', the detailed study by Enright (1996) reveals that women had an ambiguous high-status role – encompassing the powerful roles of arbiter of social rank and of seeress within the superficially low-status function of serving the mead cup to guests.

Independently, Pollington (1996) has shown that, while warfare was generally regarded as men's work in Germanic and Anglo-Saxon societies, there are enough allusions in the literatures of the northern peoples to suggest that women had a powerful role. The Norse valkyrjar (valkyries) are women dedicated to Oðinn (Odin) who share the military life of his devotees. In later literature they appear as demure maidens, although there are enough clues to suggest a grislier earlier role – possibly priestesses of the cult of Oðinn who sacrificed captives to their god. The Irish warbands had female members who sometimes fought alongside the men and so were more akin to 'shield maidens' than mere camp followers tending wounds and other needs (Pollington 1996: 70).

rituals of women's initiation

cracks or structural defects?

acknowledgements

bibliographical references

Originally published in At the Edge No.6 1997.

copyright © Bob Trubshaw 1997, 2003