The idea that, in prehistoric times, males were hunters and females were gatherers is deeply embedded in our understanding of ancient history. It has served as a basis for anthropological research for decades and continues to influence widespread perspectives on innate instincts, skills, and gender roles. But there’s a problem: Prehistoric humans might not have cleanly divided their responsibilities between the sexes.
According to Sarah Lacy, a biological anthropologist and professor at the University of Delaware, our long-held beliefs about ancient labor distributions are incorrect. Rather than split food-finding responsibilities between the sexes, humans from the Paleolithic era—about 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago—likely hunted animals regardless of biological sex. Her research, which she conducted alongside anthropological physiologist Cara Ocobock, was published last month in the American Anthropological Association’s AnthroSource.
Due to the nature of their work, Lacy and Ocobock are intimately familiar with the suggestion that only prehistoric males hunted. But this idea never sat well with them, especially in light of other anthropological research. “You live in such a small society. You have to be really, really flexible,” Lacy said of Paleolithic humans during an interview with SciTechDaily. “Everyone has to be able to pick up any role at any time.”
The duo set about examining this ideological default from multiple lenses. Reviewing previously published archaeological evidence and literature, Lacy and Ocobock found little reason to believe Paleolithic groups divided their food-finding duties based on sex. They also noted that male and female burial sites tended to feature tools that could have been used for hunting. Lastly (and perhaps most importantly), the pair found that prehistoric females were physically capable of hunting animals—and there was a lack of evidence suggesting that they didn’t hunt. The trauma sustained by both sexes (and documented via their remains) suggests males and females were hunting at roughly equal rates.
Lacy isn’t the first to critique academia’s assumption that only prehistoric males hunted. Anthropologists in the late 1900s argued against this notion, but because most of them were women, their objections were dismissed as “feminist critiques.” Now, Lacy hopes that her and Ocobock’s extensive research helps form a new default—one that doesn’t exclude Paleolithic females from a vital activity.
