The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory

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The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory - Why on Invented Past Will not Give Women a Future ( The myth of matriarchal prehistory - Why a fictional past, women's no future ) is a book published in 2000 non-fiction book of the American religious scholar Cynthia Eller . The author, who describes herself as a feminist , criticizes the thesis of a matriarchal early history , especially from an ideology-critical point of view. She argues that the ideas advocated by authors such as Marija Gimbutas , Riane Eisler or Elizabeth Gould Davis ( The First Sex ) are not supported by anthropological or archaeological studies. According to Eller, the myth of matriarchy is wishful thinking. Matriarchy is believed to be based on a need for legitimation rather than evidence.

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The first chapters in Eller's work focus on why the theory of prehistoric matriarchy is attractive to feminists today. It was picked up in the late 1960s by a differential feminist current of the women's movement and received its modern character as a “lost paradise” in the 1970s . For this part of the women's movement, matriarchy fulfills a function comparable to that of primitive communism for the labor movement of the 19th century. By the 1990s, the myth had become part of mainstream culture in America.

Eller argues that the modern theory of prehistoric matriarchy is heavily influenced by the work of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas on ancient European cultures. The social structure of the societies of the Kurgan culture and the Semitic societies, which allegedly established patriarchy, does not, however, match the ideas of matriarchal theorists. In addition, according to Eller, the survival of the patriarchy is only inadequately explained.

Eller criticizes the notion that women's reproductive abilities were the reason why they were considered sacred in early history . She argues that this is ultimately a mere reversal of anti-feminist attitudes. It is noticeable that the matriarchal theorists extol the protective and maternal qualities of women in the same way as Protestant and Catholic fundamentalists .

In the next part of The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory , Cynthia Eller tries to show that the archeology and anthropology of prehistoric and so-called “primitive” societies still in existence did not provide any evidence that women enjoyed a higher status in these societies than in modern Christian ones , Jewish , Islamic , Indian or East Asian societies. It shows that in the “primitive” societies studied, biological fatherhood is not ignored and that the sacredness of motherhood or the presence of goddesses did not improve the social status of women. In modern societies, as Marina Warner showed in Alone of All Her Sex - The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary (German: Maria , Munich 1982), the status of women is rather reduced through the worship of the feminine divine.

Eller then criticizes how arbitrarily matriarchal theorists interpret archaeological finds. This is particularly evident in how they think they recognize the moon or images of women in a wide variety of pictures . The reconstruction (interpretation) of archaeological artefacts by matriarchal theorists shows the same tendency.

The last part of The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory tries to show that there is no evidence of the so-called "patriarchal revolution" described in books like The First Sex . According to Cynthia Eller, what the advocates of matriarchy theory describe as a complete change in social structure was simply a takeover by another group in Neolithic Europe .

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  • Cynthia Eller: The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory - Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future . Beacon Press, Boston 2000, ISBN 0-8070-6792-X (English; 1st chapter on cynthiaeller.com).

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