The Introduction Feminist and Queer Theories to the Archaeological Study of Prehistoric Art
The study of prehistoric sexual imagery has been the subject of much debate within the academic community for the past two decades. Anthropologists, art historians, and psychologists have all played a role in adapting the way we view both modern and prehistoric sexuality. For it is clear that as we delve further into exploring possible alternative approaches to prehistoric sexuality, that “there is no clear boundary between ‘our’ (modern) sexualities and ‘their’ (ancient) sexualities because current understandings of our sexual selves have been formed in no small part through engagement with the archaeological record.” With this being said, I would …show more content…
The classification of nude images as being “sexual” is another archaeological assumption that the feminist critique has challenged. Fortunately, a general consensus was formed on how to identify images as being “sexual” or not. The first principle is that what is often viewed as sexual in our society may not always be so in other cultures, and vice versa. The display of body parts, whether clothed or unclothed, may not be claimed as being inherently sexual, and even once that is established not all sexual representations are also erotic. Meaning they are not specifically designed to elicit a sexual response in the viewer; sexual images may also be viewed as “apotropaic, political, comical, or religious”. The context in which a sexual image is located is often critical to assess when attempting to interpret the image’s meaning. In order to determine context of an image archaeologists must “establish who made it (artist), who sponsored it (patronage), when it was created (temporal context), who looked at it (intended and unintended audience), where people looked at it (physical context), under what circumstances (social and functional context), and what else it looks like (iconographic
The study of prehistoric sexual imagery has been the subject of much debate within the academic community for the past two decades. Anthropologists, art historians, and psychologists have all played a role in adapting the way we view both modern and prehistoric sexuality. For it is clear that as we delve further into exploring possible alternative approaches to prehistoric sexuality, that “there is no clear boundary between ‘our’ (modern) sexualities and ‘their’ (ancient) sexualities because current understandings of our sexual selves have been formed in no small part through engagement with the archaeological record.” With this being said, I would …show more content…
The classification of nude images as being “sexual” is another archaeological assumption that the feminist critique has challenged. Fortunately, a general consensus was formed on how to identify images as being “sexual” or not. The first principle is that what is often viewed as sexual in our society may not always be so in other cultures, and vice versa. The display of body parts, whether clothed or unclothed, may not be claimed as being inherently sexual, and even once that is established not all sexual representations are also erotic. Meaning they are not specifically designed to elicit a sexual response in the viewer; sexual images may also be viewed as “apotropaic, political, comical, or religious”. The context in which a sexual image is located is often critical to assess when attempting to interpret the image’s meaning. In order to determine context of an image archaeologists must “establish who made it (artist), who sponsored it (patronage), when it was created (temporal context), who looked at it (intended and unintended audience), where people looked at it (physical context), under what circumstances (social and functional context), and what else it looks like (iconographic