Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID8042647
AuthorsEugene Costello (0000-0002-1084-7585, National University of Ireland, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume50
Issue1
Pages165-184
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.2018.1472633
OpenAlexW2804682203
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited39

This article investigates the socio-cultural role of temporary habitation sites associated with short-distance transhumance in upland and outland pastures of northern Europe. Comparing recent archaeological fieldwork with neglected ethnohistorical information, the author discusses the extraordinary social and sexual freedoms which unmarried young people – particularly young women – experienced in summer pastures of post-medieval Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Shieling sites and booley sites were places where female-specific traditions of work and leisure were reproduced seasonally with minimal male interference. However, this autonomy was ultimately curtailed by the economic importance of what young women were doing in the hills, namely, looking after dairy cows and ewes. Adult males maintained subtle control over the architecture of seasonal sites and formed a noticeable presence in uplands thanks to occasional industrial activities. Seasonal transhumant sites demonstrate that temporary places in so-called 'marginal' landscapes can greatly enhance the study of social practice in non-elite rural communities

Archaeology · Autonomy · Biology · Elite · Ethnoarchaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Ecology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Rural development and sustainability

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