When it was found that Neanderthal women carried much the same suite of bone injuries as men (similar to the fracture patterns of rodeo clowns), there was a brief silence before the “men were hunters and women were gatherers” narrative continued unchallenged.

The classical writers tell us that Iron Age society was arranged in a hierarchy that bears a striking resemblance to the ideal in Greek and Roman society: peasants at the bottom; artisans, bards and druids in the middle; then nobles; and a single chieftain at the lofty apex of a triangular or pyramidal structure. Women could only gain access to the

And so she asked a simple question to fill the silence: ‘what were the females doing while the males were out hunting?’ Answer: gathering, weaning, caring for children during ‘longer periods of infant dependency’,…

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