Women's work : the first 20,000 years : women, cloth, and society in early times

Barber, E. J. W. 1940- (Author).

Summary: The author presents the previously untold human side of the story of prehistoric textiles, the relations of women and their textile work to society and economics over the huge span of prehistoric and early historic times.

Record details

ISBN: 0393035069
ISBN: 9780393035063
ISBN: 0393313484
ISBN: 9780393313482
Physical Description: print
334 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Norton, ©1994.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 306-322) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

A tradition with a reason: why textiles were traditionally women's work -- The string revolution: life in the Palaeolithic -- Courtyard sisterhood: horticultural society in the Neolithic -- Island fever: Bronze Age horticultural survivals: Minoans and others -- More than hearts on our sleeves: the functions of cloth and clothing in society -- Elements of the code: symbolism in cloth and clothing -- Cloth for the caravans: early urban manufacture in the Bronze Age Near East -- Land of linen: Middle Kingdom Egypt -- The golden spindle: outworker industries for the elite: the Mycenaeans -- Behind the myths: women's work as reflected in textile myths -- Plain or fancy, new or tried and true: Late Bronze and Iron Age urban industries -- Postscript: Finding the invisible: methods of research.