Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.

1100879795
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.

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Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

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Overview

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393285581
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 06/08/2015
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 148,605
File size: 7 MB

About the Author

Elizabeth Wayland Barber teaches linguistics and archaeology at Occidental College in California.

Table of Contents

Preface11
Introduction17
Ch. 1A Tradition with a Reason: Why textiles were traditionally women's work29
Ch. 2The String Revolution: Life in the Palaeolithic42
Ch. 3Courtyard Sisterhood: Horticultural society in the Neolithic71
Ch. 4Island Fever: Bronze Age horticultural survivals: Minoans and others101
Ch. 5More than Hearts on Our Sleeves: The functions of cloth and clothing in society127
Ch. 6Elements of the Code: Symbolism in cloth and clothing147
Ch. 7Cloth for the Caravans: Early urban manufacture in the Bronze Age Near East164
Ch. 8Land of Linen Middle Kingdom Egypt185
Ch. 9The Golden Spindle: Outworker industries for the elite: The Mycenaeans207
Ch. 10Behind the Myths: Women's work as reflected in textile myths232
Ch. 11Plain or Fancy, New or Tried and True: Late Bronze and Iron Age urban industries257
Ch. 12Postscript: Finding the Invisible: Methods of research286
Illustration and Credit List301
Sources306
Index323
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