A book dedicated to hideworking for archaeologists is long overdue, since hides are an important product of herding as well as hunting. The authors in this volume take multiple approaches to the subject, both archaeologically and ethnographically. They demonstrate that hideworking is interesting, is related to gender in surprising ways, and is related to many other facets of culture. The book deserves to be read cover to cover by any prehistorian, and then kept handy on the shelf as a reference.
Sarah Milledge Nelson This is an important and engaging volume, if only for the amazingly rich details about the processes, practices, tools, organizations and cultural meanings of hide production. That there is actually so much information on this truly neglected domain of cultural work, and that a lot of it has been available for many years is an obvious testimony to a genuine neglect of valuable information?a neglect that has been both systematic and biased. It is enormously important in bringing together ethnographic and ethnohistoric references and observations, which , along with solid archaeological materials as well, makes one wonder even more about the partiality of our accounts of the human past. The combination here of these different sources of evidence attest thecultural complexity and cultural significances of what has all too often been ignored, devalued or underestimated. The contributing authors have convincingly made manifest the link of these (negative) attitudes to androcentric thinking and practices. Thisvolume is an excellent example of how to take a specific domain of cultural life and scrutinize it, bringing feminist perspectives to bear so as to yield an entirely new terrain of understanding and insight into everything from stone tools to cosmologica
Margaret W. Conkey, Department of Anthropology and Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley This is a rich and thought-provoking compendium of information on the practicalities and socioeconomics of hide preparation, presented in a critical framework that reveals the complexities of gendered work. Its individual contributions' high standards of ethnographic and archaeological documentation demonstrate that a gender-conscious approach to artifacts and sites can produce detailed and socially focused archaeological analyses. The volume's most important contribution is its consistent embedding of hide working in its varied social and historical contexts, looking beyond simple gender division of labor to questions about control of production and powers of allocation in different societies.
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, University of California, Santa Cruz Explorations from Alaska, across the Great Plains, to Africa, reveal that for millennia women and men have employed complex arrays of skills and tools to transform animal hides into clothing, housing, art, prestige, capital, ritual accouterments, and more. Among the strengths of this splendid book is its theoretical journey from tools, to labor, to the context of production and the spiritual, symbolic dimensions of hide processing. Archaeologists will never look at stone tools the same way again.
Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Northern Arizona University This is an important and engaging volume, if only for the amazingly rich details about the processes, practices, tools, organizations and cultural meanings of hide production. That there is actually so much information on this truly neglected domain of cultural work, and that a lot of it has been available for many years is an obvious testimony to a genuine neglect of valuable information—a neglect that has been both systematic and biased. It is enormously important in bringing together ethnographic and ethnohistoric references and observations, which , along with solid archaeological materials as well, makes one wonder even more about the partiality of our accounts of the human past. The combination here of these different sources of evidence attest the cultural complexity and cultural significances of what has all too often been ignored, devalued or underestimated. The contributing authors have convincingly made manifest the link of these (negative) attitudes to androcentric thinking and practices. This volume is an excellent example of how to take a specific domain of cultural life and scrutinize it, bringing feminist perspectives to bear so as to yield an entirely new terrain of understanding and insight into everything from stone tools to cosmological principles that are associated with a supposedly only 'basic' task—hide production. A veritable gold mine!
Margaret W. Conkey, Department of Anthropology and Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley