Did Women Rule Old Europe?

(NYTimes.com) The proliferation of female imagery throughout the fifth and fourth millennia BC has prompted some scholars to interpret Old European culture as a peaceful world where female-centered goddess worship prevailed.

Female figurines predominate in Old European material culture. They can be found represented individually as well as in large groups and in contexts identified as domestic, ritual, religious, and funerary.

Males, according to this theory, played a largely secondary role in society. Some scholars, however, consider this argument idealized — in fact many villages were fortified, weapons were buried with men, and adult males had the richest graves in cemeteries. Full article

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Female figurine fired clay 4050–3900 BC, Botoşani County Museum (Marius Amarie)