The technology that women in these societies developed to assist in their gathering activities -- digging sticks, hand axes, grinding stones, shell knives, string bags, carrying baskets, and cooking pots -- gave rise to science, medicine, and language.
One can argue that the most important tools were not weapons but containers used for gathering, and the baby sling, which allowed women to carry infants while using both hands to hunt or collect plants.
From Barbara Tedlock's The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine
Tedlock is an anthropologist who, through a remarkable series of events (which she outlines in the book), was pulled into a Mayan Daykeeper apprenticeship with her husband Dennis Tedlock.
She's written a fascinating book on Shamanism around the globe from the unique perspective of both a scientific observer and a participant in the traditional practices.
1 comment:
I am definitely going to check this out. So amazing.
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