A HISTORICAL PROFILE OF THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN

ANTIQUITY Since paleolithic to egitian time

paleolithic

• Reconstructing the role of women in Paleolithic is not easy, but the surviving traces of that period so far, suggests that women did not have a very different role from that of men. Archaeological remains prove the participation of women alongside men in hunting and tiring transfers of property and animals, in the long period of nomadic life in the Paleolithic

Economic role

• The women's group collaborated with the men to supply the community of what was needed for its survival, food, water, clothing, shelter.

prehistoric times

• In prehistoric times the woman had a vital role, so that families are now considered the prehistoric matriarchal, because the woman, as well as care for and raise children, took care of the garden and before the advent of agriculture she skinned dead animals and chewed the hides to soften them.

the first "pharmaceuticals

• So could distinguish the good from the bad plants and then avoid the dangers of poisoning. The woman discovered the healing properties of some plants, then creating the first "pharmaceuticals”. 

• The uman of the Paleolitic were Nomadi groups,that is maintained across the activies of huntingand and gather.The man was in hostile enviroment,disadvantaged than other,predators.The hunt weren't danse and safe.The survival of the comunity was assured of the grass and fruit collection and of the hunt small rodets: important function utilised of group woman,than cured their children and they aren't suitable to participate to the hunt.

search edible food

• The primitive women were provided to support the group and will play a work of great importance.We should not understimate the part of the collection.It should not be designed as the random search edible food in the camp.

• Women know cycles of reproduction of plants and where they grows abundantly

the group follow the directions of women harvester

• .Also they knew identifying one other plant and they know its' in each shrubs.They consume any portion of the fruit and they not ruin the plant during collection.In the course of their women beaten cared edible plats,removing weeds and fertilizing the soil.Also they have planted the seeds for to find a quantity higher edible plants.The group moves according to akind of map drawn second to the avaitability plant.Then the group follow the directions of women harvester.

From this period go back thousands of pictures feminine

stone carvings, sculptures, many of these have been defined by scholars "Venus prehistoric.

VENUS of Willendorf (Austria)

Venus of South German•

•

Venere di Sevignano e Venere di Lespugue

These small statues which stand out in the physical

features of the woman-mother's belly, big breasts, etc..,

Characters that have given rise to the hypothesis of a primitive cult for an unidentified mother goddess, the giver of life and

fertility.

The woman in the Bronze Age: the Homeric society. 800a.c. The wives of the heroes were "wives, queens and landlord" and against the will of his father's second marriage, often, the marriage bond was a tangible sign of an alliance between two families, although it is possible that later she could win the affection of her husband. (see the example of Penelope and Odysseus). 

RECOSTRUTION OF AN ITALIAN AND A FRENCH HUTS

BRONZE AGE

In any case, the patriarchal order on which society is based Homeric limited the functions of women. Its beauty is sung by Homer when he describes both Helen and Penelope beautiful woman capable of passionate feeling and great sacrifices.

The Egyptian woman (2500 ... ... 500 BC) 

Although living in very distant age, belonged to a civilized people. Its refinement can be seen in the makeup and clothes. Thin slender, thick lips and eyes that accentuated a gazelle with a showy trick. Her charm, her grace and dignity made her infinitely lovable. In the paints the woman was in the pale yellow,man brown,because the women were trying to keep the skin clear as possible, considering it a sign of beauty and distinction. Ancient Egyptian texts recommended man to love and respect the bride.  The Egyptian woman working at home, make bread, beer, and control all activities of the house. 

The woman in Crete (1700 BC ... ... ... .800) 

• In Crete women enjoyed great respect and freedom. The cult had female deities and the priests were women. She could participate in public life. The paintings depict the graceful dresses and skirts, embroidered bodices members. Have developed and hairstyles look very accurate

THE ACTIVITIES

• In the Bronze age there was an integration between agriculture, animal husbandry and the exploitation of secondary products such as dairy. The hunting was still widely practiced, with the production of bronze objects.

• It was discovered a single objects in the world: a headdress decorated with small plates and plates of bone. Perhaps it belonged to the tribal leader or “sorcerer”.

• Another important witness was the presences of an oven, which would then assume that men already knew how to the environment as heat after the Romans had done in their spa.

• Finally, were found the remains of thirteen goats, a sign that the village was abandoned suddenly following a volcanic eruption, that he archaeologist and volcanologists is that of “ Avellino pumice”.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture was certainly very important: vast expanses of land were cultivated, organized in long plots, separated by divisions that had functions irrigation.• The plough was already used in the third century, in addition to the use of

wagons and carts. Still know little about the species cultivated.• It was documented the cultivation of cereals, especially barley and wheat, in

addition to that of olive, along with wild berries and fruits.• In some containers have also been found that almonds had therefore become

part of nutrition.• Palma Campania was shown in 1995, a field that showed of plowing parallel

furrows and ridges with the likely use of plows drawn by animal. Is attested to the uso ef logging, to recover land pastures or fields to cultivate and it is likely that perhaps you can practice both the fertilization of soils with waste from homes, as would seem to think association of ceramic fragments with remains of animals and other organic elements at the top of humus.

• They were also charged rotating systems in order to help the earth to find some regenerated.

• The grinder with stone pestles refer to the processing of cereals as a major domestic activities

FARMING

• Another of the primary activities of the Bronze age was the breeding of the animals.

• 13 goats, of which 9 pregnant, found locked inside a cage of wood and clay, the imprints of hooves of cattle and pigs, the remains of the meal.

• We have provided precious information on domestic species bred and diet. This aspect makes the Nola an amazing and exceptional excavation. Not far from the huts, has found a structure containing nine individual sheep and goats, female pregnant.

FARMING

• Tangled bodies, and skulls prosthesis upwards suggest anything but a peaceful death, perhaps due to asphyxia possibly caused by gas fumes and the arrival of material pyroclastic and eruptive. They found other individuals, tied to perimeter poles. One of these individuals, in particular was prostheses with the feet towards the basket, as if to seek shelter after the volcanic material. Beyond this spectacular discovery, investigation archaeolzoological to Nola is enriched by the many artefacts found bone , distributed outside the huts, a witness to a culture of “casual abandonment” of the remains of a meal : there were also the objects of fauna within the huts, probably pieces of dried flesh hung on the beams.

HUNTING

• The hunting was still widely practiced in this era. The discovery of some peaks of arrows and daggers and knives and bones used for hunting.

• In 2002 it was discovered the skeleton of a dog imprisoned in a hut. And the archaeologists who are digging the important site of the Bronze Age in the suburbs of Nola, have found his skeleton next two small skeletons of a mouse and lizard.

CRAFT• As the populations were in contact with one another,

specialize more and more techniques of construction of artefacts and objects are making more and more refined. There is in this period that is beginning to make metal objects and the presence of kilns for the manufacture of bronze, attested by concotto plans and various fragments and slag, indicating the presence in the community of specialists in such work. For the most part by women were to be conducted some domestic activities such as spinning and weaving: the presence of fusaiole and reeled in the huts, as well as impressions of fabrics of wool or linen, indicate the progress of this work within the homes .

• More than two hundred vessels in great condition, some with their contents (almonds, flour, ears of corn) were found in the huts, some still in place, such as bowls, cups and supports the foot placed on top around the oven, inside which was placed a pitcher for heating food. The vases were made of ceramic mixture, more or less well-worked, often with the outside fence or smooth or even polished, quality ones are less accurate an opaque surface. Various types found: olle with rounded edge or tense, cups of various sizes and not fairing, supports (which probably had the function of the table, to support you scodelloni above or cups), trays, jugs of various sizes, bowls. •

CRAFT

• Unlike other finds of the Bronze Age Ancient and Nola have many types of decorations to be carving that graffito, often filled with white, are loved ones with opposing triangles pattern, with bands spans a trellis, with solcature horizontal.

• Often the decoration is a plastic on the walls of blood vessels, characterized by smooth strings, tabs or ditate companies, and the edges are sometimes decorated with impressions of fingertips and nails, or with notches engraved with a stick. Were part of the furnishings of the house including wood are still visible because the fingerprints of Catini of various sizes, where you can experience the great skill achieved in wood, with types of joint Dovetail and butterfly. Other types of baskets were made, as today, with plaited straw and rushes, others with flat wooden staves, bound by tight cords plants. Finally some containers, perhaps silo made with plaited branches and clay.

TOOLS

BRONZE VASES

FURNACE FOR THE BRONZE MELTING

HUMAN SKELETONS• Around the excavation and at a lower level in a stratification of

materials from falling on a paleosuolo age previous the villa were recovered the mortal remains of two individuals. A woman 150 cm high of about 20 years and a male other 172 cm. of about 40 \ 50 years. The woman showed traces of shortage martial likely to report a pregnancy, food deficiency secondary to feeding. The analysis of the symphysis pubis showed signs of at least three pregnancies. The male showed up, and robust advanced signs of spondilartrosi and gonartrosi. The investigation began in anthropological view further details of the "life" of the two "vesuviani" of the bronze age. The sciabolatura tibias was an indirect evidence of rickets and together with the dental fluorosis gave clear indication of the deficient food cycles. The investigations performed on the DNA of the spongy heel showed that individuals of 4000 years ago belonged to a strain biologically napoletano. The anthropological and postural similarities of the two bodies still laid out the interesting considerations about the similarity with the exitus of Pompeii in the 79th The face covered by hands were recalled in the amazing casts of Pompeii. Men belonging to periods so far, united under the same circumstances at the time of death. The eruption of 79 and the eruption of Avellino.

Human skeletons near Nola

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Almost nothing we know of the religious beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of the village excavation of a necropolis in the Early Bronze Age in San Paolo Belsito made during 2000 begin to provide some information about the funerary rituals and beliefs in the afterlife. Precious was the discovery in the hut in the cavity number four of the settlement of Nola of a small statue of a female of about 10 cm high, rough clay, modeled by hand.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

The head appears devoid of the neck and with the details of the face in a brief, but effective means in the clay raw impressions, the hairdo is a hair long, perhaps collected in a braid or a tail, behind the neck. The body is stretched, the legs short and wide apart, hands stretched forward without right hand In the figure, represented bare breasts are accentuated and highlighted the pubis. A small hole, deep enough, practiced at the base of the statue, between the legs, used for entering a small auction who held up the building. It is likely that the statue is an idol of worship.

THE HEADDRESS OF THE SHAMAN

Another important concern is the finding of a particular object, a headdress, consisting of plates of wild boar tusks polished and drilled, so that could be linked together to create items pendulum things, which descended from a central part, formed by the tusks boar longer, perhaps on a fixed cap of leather, has posed problems of interpretation. The findings, found in hut 2, which was to be inhabited by a few people, if not by a single individual, did make the assumption that we can be an object from the ceremony, which was worn in specific situations or during rituals , the shaman of the village, which is not excluded, could be a woman.

The two fetuses •

• Of particular importance for the understanding of certain beliefs is the discovery, in place of the fence around the hut 4, two fetuses, one of about 6 months of development, the other by about 4 months - clearly two abortions - buried in an area outside the hut.

• The decision to depose these two individuals within the village and not with the other communities of the dead is probably linked to the fact that these fetuses have not come to be part of it died before or shortly after birth, so the place attest to their liminarity position, one being simultaneously inside and outside the community, so as not to affect the balance between the community of the living and the dead.

DEPOSITIONS

• Deposition 1 person is crouching on the left side. The state of preservation is excellent: the skull is an exception that is very broken and incomplete. There are nearly all the bones, lacking only the feet. The deceased is buried in the fetal position, playing the position in the womb. The legs are contracted and the arms are directed towards the face. The age of the fetus is estimated at six months the moon according to the size of the bones of the limbs. The individual is oriented N / S.

• Deposition 2 The skeleton is the subject of some post-depositional events, such as the action of small animals such as rodents or insects, which have caused the separation of almost all skeletal districts, and the persistence of other pear ² proof that there face a primary deposition. We have no evidence to determine its position at the time of burial. The individual has a good state of preservation, given the consistency and the fragility of the bones related to his young age, is well represented, in fact, missing only a few skeletal elements. The age of the fetus is estimated between four and four and a half lunar months, depending on the length of the limbs. The individual is oriented E / O.

Physical anthropology• • Physical anthropology is the study of the physical characteristics of man. In the

past, this study was aimed to define the populations in descriptive terms, metrics and files, is now directed to the interaction between culture and environment, placing one of its aims to reconstruct the dynamics of bio-cultural populations. The information that the data can make anthropological cover a wide range of situations ranging from basic analysis to determine sex and age at death, stature, status, health, detection of certain diseases and general stress, the order to understand their impact and their trends over time. The information order tafonomic are intended to identify everything that happened after the deposition of the body, and the events of an artificial / cultural events of that natural order.

• As part of interdisciplinary studies, archeology began a relationship with anthropology, which stems from the consideration that the skeleton is not only the support of the body, but a living tissue: the bone model based on the posture and motor habits, regenerate if damaged showing the traces of damage sustained, record the consequences of certain illnesses, stress, nutritional deficiencies, a whole range of events more or less crucial to have involved in their lives.

• Taking into account the importance of knowledge (physical) and indirect (cultural) of man, the skeleton may be considered in all respects a real "data file" on the environmental stress suffered on lifestyle and some cultural traits. The biological characteristics of a human group together to explain the cultural and vice versa. An example of interaction between the two studies (Contact biology and culture) concerns the relationship of livelihood activities with the state of health and nutrition of populations of the past. In fact with particular diseases of the oral cavity (caries, tartar, cysts) and conducting specialized tests, such as, for example, analysis of trace elements, can be traced back to the kind of power and, consequently, the type of activity subsistence conducted to obtain food.

The study of skeletal remains• • The study of skeletal remains is a purely descriptive assessment

performed through the observation / detection of all the skeletal districts, which have different importance depending on the type of analysis to be conducted. The analysis formed the basis for determining the sex of individuals of adult age (over 18 years) through the observation of the skull and pelvis, and the determination of death by the observation of wear of the teeth and the degree obliteration of the sutures of the skull. As for individuals young(age between 0 and 18 years) is not possible to determine the sex, but you can make an assessment of age much more precise, by the degree of tooth eruption and length of limbs . Other investigations concern the identification of health status, the diseases and the recognition of the type of diet, by assessing the degree of balance between carbohydrates and proteins. The study is enriched further observation of specific lesions left in certain areas of certain bones or groups of bones due to repeated movements over time, which, compared with movements known to current activities, can give a hypothetical about business activities of the peoples of past. Finally, information that most closely to elements of culture are those that are obtained at the time of excavation, identifying all the actions of an artificial cultural ranging from preparation for the accommodation of the body in the grave, to what may happen after deposition, such as reductions or violations, other information comes from the processes of natural order, such special positions of the bones due to decomposition in a full or an empty space, the passage of water, or the intervention of small animals such as insects or rodents.

• The anthracology

• • The anthracology is a branch dell'archeobotanica that allows us to reconstruct the paleo environment at the local scale, the name derives from the greek anthrax, "coal" and logos "discipline", because the purpose of this discipline is the botanical identification and dating fragments of carbonized wood. The fragments of coal resulting from the combustion of wood are found in any archaeological context, as the use of fire is essential to the production activities of man, just think of the cooking of food, heating, lighting, processing of metals, ceramics, etc.. THE METHOD

• To check out the coals, it is necessary to define a mesh of regular sampling over the entire surface of the hull, and to collect samples of sediment for each stratigraphic unit for which you want information. The next step provides for the sieving of the sediment in the water sampled, to separate them from the coals. The coal is chemically inert and can not be attacked by microorganisms decompositor and can be kept very long. Fundamental characteristic of coals, to the identification of botany, is to retain the anatomical structures of wood origin. Because each plant species has an anatomy wood different from the other, looking at the coals with a reflection microscope that can magnify very small objects, you can identify the wood species from which it originated. The identification is achieved by comparison with the aid of a computer key, the atlas of anatomy of wood and coal of collections of reference (antracoteca). Subsequently, samples of charcoal can be dated with radiocarbon techniques to obtain the precise timing of stratigraphy.

ARCHEOZOLOGIE• Note findings on animals found at the site of the Cross of the Pope

• The Archeozoologia or Zooarcheologia, its synonym, is the science of animal artefacts found on an archaeological excavation, which are directly linked with anthropogenic activities. For the archaeologist, in fact, the Archeozoologia is an auxiliary discipline of big utility, could rebuild the economic and environmental context of an archaeological deposit. The modern scientific approach to the study of archeofaune is designed to reconstruct the historical and economic paths of our ancestors, their preferences and eating habits, rituals, the natural environment in which they lived, allowing what to grasp, of a civilization all aspects of everyday life considered, wrongly, of secondary interest. An analysis of a bone is possible if the item allows, skeletal reconstruction of this segment, the species they belong, sex (for some species) and age of death of the individual. And by the final data processing is possible, therefore, to make quantitative estimates on individual animal species found during the excavation, and rebuild the economy of a site and the nature of it, ¨ it was a nomadic village or a well-ordered society, whose forms of life were dictated by the sedentary.

The Plinian eruption

• The Plinian eruption is named by Pliny the Younger who first described the phenomenon.

• It is a type of eruption that is produced by volcanoes gray, characterized by the emission of very viscous lava which does not flow from the crater, but accumulates at the top, preventing the escape of gas, which causes the increase of internal pressure that leads to explode or partially, in most cases disastrous, totally volcano.

• During the explosion a large column of ash, lapilli and gas (eruption column) rises to tens of kilometers into the atmosphere. Finished thrust of the gases and ash lapilli fall devastating pyroclastic flows forming regions adjacent to the explosion.