Women's Roles In The Paleolithic Era Explained For Kids

During the Paleolithic (or Paleolithic) Era, women had a well-defined role within their tribes.

Women of that age were responsible for gathering, cooking, caring for children, and preserving tribal harmony. Though they played a very significant role, their existence was reduced to timid women with scanty dresses by popular culture in the modern world.

It was always the man who was called the brave hunter and toolmaker. The role of women hardly received any mention when humans started researching and recording ancient history. Reading through the pages of human history, have you ever wondered where the Stone Age women were? Read on to find out!

If you enjoyed reading this article on women's role in the Paleolithic Era, then you must read these facts about women's rights and women empowerment facts. 

History Of The Paleolithic Era

The Old Stone Age was around 30,000–10,000 BCE.

This period marked the very first achievements of creativity by humans in the form of rock art. Due to the lack of written archeological records of the era, nearly all our knowledge regarding Paleolithic societies comes from comparisons to other new-age hunter-gatherer societies.

Daily life in past societies was marked by the existence of caves to shield from predators and bad weather. Hunting was a dominant activity in typical Paleolithic society. Primitive stone tools like stone-tipped spears, hand axes, bows, and arrows, as well as harpoons, were used for hunting animals.

Many of us assume gender relations existed; for example, men would have probably gone out to hunt animals while the major role of cavewomen would have been limited to gathering firewood and materials for the shelters, clothes, and stone tools.

However, our modern notions about the disparity between the two genders are not validated by any archeological record, which gives only half the picture of gender roles.

The later periods of the Stone Age were marked by shelters that were more elaborate. At the end of that time period, art in the form of rock painting, jewelry, and cave paintings began to prosper. Religious beliefs in the form of rituals and burials began to be practiced too.

The surviving art forms of this era are called 'Paleoliths'. The Venus of Tan-Tan, the Venus of Berekhat Ram, and the Mask of la Roche-Cotard are some famous artifacts from the Stone Age.

The Paleolithic cave paintings mainly depicted abstract signs, human figurines, and animals. Southern France and northern Spain boast some spectacular cave paintings. The prehistoric Homo sapiens were capable of producing abstract art as well as symbolic art. The discovered beads and engraved stones from the Blombos Caves in South Africa depict this.

The Paleolithic Period was followed by the Neolithic Period. The Neolithic Era spanned from about 10,000-3,000 BCE. In the Neolithic Era, there were considerable advances in farming that came into existence. Moreover, animals began to be domesticated.

In the Neolithic period, women were, many believe, expected to care for their children while the men went out to hunt. This era thus formed the basis of the male bias, where gender roles were markedly etched out for everyone to follow.

Contributions Of Women

As explained above, hunting was the most important job in the Paleolithic Age.

The food consumed during the Stone Age was mostly comprised of hunted animals or fish and gathered plant material like seeds, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

Paleolithic women are assumed to be generally responsible for gathering food and caring for their little ones throughout their entire adult life. Women are also believed to have played a role in maintaining tribal harmony.

However, this notion of the collective past that portrayed women in mostly nurturing roles was shaken up when a 9000-year-old site was unearthed in Peru. The remains of an adolescent female were found with blades, scrapers, spear points, and other tools of the Stone Age.

This meant that women were also a part of groups that went out to hunt animals for food.

Why do we not hear about prehistoric women?

Where were all the women in the Stone Age? Well, if there weren't Stone Age women in the prehistoric era, then obviously, homo sapiens wouldn't be here today.

The roles played by prehistoric women lie in answering simple questions like, 'Who hunted down animals?' or 'Who made those tools or that rock art?' The answer lies in some excavated remains from these prehistoric times.

For instance, grinding stones have been unearthed in Israel, dating at least 12,000 years back. This suggests that dough-making and baking of bread, presumably by women, was carried out in prehistoric times.

Also, an example of females' having artistic endeavors is seen in the hand stencils at El Castillo Caves in Spain. These forms of rock art are about 41,000 years old and believed to have been made by women.

Furthermore, what prehistoric women looked like is depicted in Venus statues found in the many caves of western Europe. These statues show women as being voluptuous, with a considerable amount of fat encompassing their frames.

This can point to the idea that women during the prehistoric era were actually well-rounded, and this body form was actually a standard to aspire to!

Interesting Facts About Women's Role In Paleolithic Era

The Paleolithic Era is believed to have been such that men used to go hunting for food while women worked as gatherers. There were many dependencies on the environment. People used caves as shelters, and so a nomadic way of life was the norm.

However, published records of prehistoric digs across North and South America tell a different story. An almost equal number of men and women were found buried alongside hunting tools used to hunt big wild animals.

The rock art panels found in the Lascaux Cave in France have been painted by women from the Stone Age. The art at the Maros Karst Caves of Sulawesi, located in Indonesia, is also believed to be the handiwork of women.

Archeologist Bill Hildebrandt has deliberated on an 8000-year-old Southern Californian culture and found that gender roles were quite flexible. Although presumably paleolithic women were believed to have had nurturing and peripheral roles, some archeological excavations and surveys prove otherwise, too.

We need more archeological insights and studies to enunciate women's roles in that era more clearly.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for are you aware of women's role in Paleolithic Era? time to find out, then why not take a look at women's march facts, or when do women stop growing.