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150 C O M P A R A T I V E C I V I L I Z A T I O N S R E V I E WC O E R C I V E P R E C I V I L I Z A T I O N A L M A T R I A R C H Y ?M a r g a r e t E h r e n b e r g , Women in Prehistory. N o r m a n a n d L o n d o n :Un i ve r s i t y o f O k l ah om a Pre s s , 1989 [M arch 1990] . 192 pp . , pa pe rba ck ,$ 1 4 . 9 5 .

At t he ou t s e t , t he au t ho r dec l a r e s he r se l f t o be bo t h an a r cheo l og i s tand a femini s t . And the back cover of her book c lear ly impl ies tha t ,peda gog i ca l l y , she is a s i nvo l ved i n w om en ' s s t ud i e s a s i n an t h r op o l o gy .H e r t e x t , h o w e v e r , p r e s e n t s f a r m o r e a r c h e o l o g i c a l d a t a a n da n t h r o p o l o g i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n t h a n f e m i n i s t ic i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o r m a t e r i a lspec i f i c t o w om en ' s s t ud i e s .Fac t s and a r t i f ac t s abound i n t h i s vo l ume , bu t s ens i t i v i t y t o nuancesd o e s n o t . E h r e n b e r g w r i t e s a s t h o u g h u n a w a r e t h a t t w o o f t h e m o s tc r u c i a l t e r m s u s e d i n h e r w o r k a r e a m b i g u o u s . T h e s e t w o t e r m s a r ef e m i n i s m a n d m a t r i a r c h y . F e m i n i s m c a n b e c o n s t r u e d in v a r i o u sways , t wo o f t he more obv i ous be i ng t he be l i e f t ha t women shou l d bem o r e l i k e m e n a n d t h e b e l i e f t h a t m e n s h o u l d b e m o r e l i k e w o m e n .T h o u g h b o t h t he se be l i e fs a r e eq ua l i t a r i an , t he equa l i t i e s i nvo l ved a r eq u i t e d i f f e r e n t .

M a t r i a r c h y is n o m o r e s e l f - d e f i n i n g t h a n f e m i n i s m . E v e n inc la ss ica l G ree k , t he fo rm - a r ch - cou l d m ean e i t he r f i r s t i n do m i n i o n ( asin monarch o r f i r s t in se qu en ce (as inarchaic . In each ca se , t he au t ho rh a s t a k e n t h e m o r e a g g r e s s iv e o r m a l e - o r i e n t e d m e a n i n g f o r g r a n t e d , a se v i d e n c e d b y h e r f o c u s o n s u c h e a r l y f i g u r e s a s Q u e e n B o u d i c a[Boud i cca o r Boad i cea ] , who l ed t he sou t he rn Br i t ons i n ba t t l e aga i ns tt h e R o m a n C o l o n i s t s , a n d M o r r i g a n , a C e l t i c g o d d e s s o f w a r . T h i si m p r e s s i o n is s t r e n g t h e n e d b y E h r e n b e r g ' s c o m p l e t e d i s r e g a r d o f t h ew o r k o f t h e w e l l k n o w n c o n t e m p o r a r y a r c h e o l o g i s t M a r i j a G i m b u t a s ,w h o r e g a r d s p r e - A r y a n E u r o p e a s h a v i n g b e e n p e a c e f u l a n df e m a l e - c e n t e r e d .

I t is u n f o r t u n a t e , t h o u g h p e r h a p s s i g n i f ic a n t , t h a t t h e a u t h o r h a sse l ec t ed a s he r cove r de s i gn a r a t he r en i gma t i c Meso l i t h i c r ock pa i n t i ngf r o m Cuev as de la A ran a in Spa i n . W hi l e she desc r i be s it a s de p i c t i ng awoman wi t h a ba ske t ga t he r i ng wi l d honey f rom a h i ve i n t he t op o f at r ee (p . 56 ) , no ne o f t h is de s c r i p t i on is be yo nd qu es t i o n : t he h i ve cou l db e a b u s h ; t h e t r e e c o u l d b e a s t r e a m ; t h e m a r k s a r o u n d t h e w o m a nc o u l d b e a n i m a l t r a c k s ; a n d w o r s e y e t t h e w o m a n (a s is c o n c e d e d o np . 56) could be a man.E hr en be rg ' s v iew o f t he r e l a t i on be t w een t h e sexes s eem s t o focusl a rge l y on coe rc i ve p ow er , as wi t ne s s he r de f i n i t i on o f ma t r i a r ch y ( in t heGl os sa ry , on p . 176) a s a soc ie t y i n wh i ch w om en r egu l a r l y do m i n a t e a lla spec t s o f l i fe . . . an d hav e au t ho r i t y o ve r m en . B u t it a l so ap pe a r s t oi n v o l v e a s t r o n g s e c o n d a r y e m p h a s i s o n m a t e r i a l a d v a n t a g e a s e x p r e s s e di n he r a s se r t i on (on p . 173) t ha t i f a w om an p l ays no pa r t i n p ro du c t i on. . . sh e wil l ce r ta inl y n ot b e able to gain s ta tu s wi thin th e society.

T h e au t h o r con c l ud es t ha t it is pos s i b le t o s t ud y w om en in p r eh i s t o ry

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Book Reviews 151. . . an d . . . i t is poss ible to wri te a pr eh is to ry of wo m en . In th is prec iseand profess ional book, she may wel l have ac tual ized the f i rs t of these twoposs ibi l i t ies for herse l f . For most laymen, howeverespecia l ly for thosein search of a d is t inc t ive ly feminine vis ionshe has hardly begun toactual ize the second. Hilja B. WescottRoger W. Westcott

A C R I T I Q U E O F C I V I L I Z A T I O N A L R A T I O N A L I S MS ta n l e y D ia m ond . In Search ofth Primitive, A Critique of Civilization. Ne wBrun swick , N. J . : T r an sac t io n B ooks : 1974 (3 rd p r in t ing , 1987) .

W e don ' t t alk ab ou t the p r im i t ive a s m uc h as we d id ju s t two dec ade sa g o w h e n S t a n l e y D i a m o n d w r o t e hi s c r i t i q u e o f c i v i l iz a t i o n b ycontras t ing i t wi th the pr imit ive . I t may be tha t tbe pr imit ive , l ike manyot he r t e rms , s eems now to evoke pe jora t ive , ind eed od ious com par i son s .The impl ied no te o f super io r i ty in such compar i sons s tems f rom the v iewtha t t he p re m ode rn , o r t he t r a d i t i ona l , o r t he p r im i t i ve , wa s s om e howless deve loped , l e s s humanly accompl i shed , l e s s expans ive ly c rea t ivet h a n t h e m o d e r n .One l ine o f reason ing was based in the se t o f d icho tomies wherebysoc io log is t s con t ras ted some prev ious soc ie ta l fo rm wi th the cur ren t ,soc ie tal f ra m e . T h e re was society based on s ta tus a s op po sed to con t rac t ,o r on t rad i t ion as opposed to ra t iona l i ty , o r on mechan ica l so l ida r i ty a sopposed to o rgan ic so l ida r i ty , and so on .Anothe r approach was le s s neu t ra l in seek ing ana ly t ica l ca tegor ies fo rthe s tudy of va r ious soc ie t i e s . I t s eemed prope l led by the modernconvic t ion tha tprogr sswas to be fo u n d p r inc ipal ly in socie ty it se lf . T h em od er ni za t io n of society cou ld be t ra ce d in i ts eco no m ic , its pol it ica l , an di n d e e d in its c u l t u r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . T h e m o d e r n e c o n o m y w a sindus tr ia l , the modern pol i ty was a s ta te , usual ly a na t ion-s ta te , and them ode rn c u l t u re wa s l i t e r a t e , s pons o r ing e duc a t i on , a nd a r a nge o f a r tfo rms in mus ic , pa in t ing , l i t e ra tu re and poe t ry . Wha t p receded themodern ized soc ie ty o f fe red l i t t l e i f any th ing tha t was thought to bepe r t i n e n t , a nd u s e fu l , f o r t he c o n t e m po ra r y wa ys o f l if e . T h e p r io rc i rc um stan ce , w ha tev er it was ca l led , a n d how eve r it was ana lyzed , f illedout the more exo t ic ranges o f human behav ior , and was ins t ruc t ive aboutw h a t m o d e r n m e n a n d w o m e n h a d n ow l e ft b e h i n d a n d t r a n s c e n d e d .

S t a n l e y D i a m o n d t a k e s a s t r o n g p o s i t i o n in o p p o s i t i o n t o t h ecompar i son of the con tempora ry , so -ca l led c iv i l i zed wor ld and wha t hadpr ec ed ed . He in t ro du ces th e book wi th the s ta te m ent : C iv i li zat iono r ig ina t e s i n c onq ue s t a b r oa d a nd r e p re s s ion a t ho m e . A l th oug h hediscusses some of the charac ter is t ics of a rchaic and modern c ivi l iza t ions ,h is p r i nc ipa l t he m e is t he hum a n m e a n ing o f t he b re a c h be twe e ncivi l ized and pr imit ive cul ture .