Archaeologists Unearth 5,000 Year Old Remains of a Possibly Transgendered/Gender Queer Cave Person
What do we believe about the Cavemen? They were a primitive and barbaric people who spent their time killing each other and beating women over the head with clubs when they wanted sexy times. However, one reality that Archaeological remains recently unearthed is that a primitive tribe in the Czech Republic may have been pretty tolerant towards their gender queer folk. (I know this article is two years old, but I think it’s still relevant)
We’ve heard it all before. Homosexuality is unnatural! It’s a plague of the modern age! Blah, blah blah. Maybe the real plague of the modern age is how poorly we treat those with nuanced gender and sexual orientations.
In many different tribal cultures around the world, gender deviance was an acceptable part of life. The Europeans who wrote about Native American tribes stated that there were a few men who would dress and act like women, and were treated as perfectly normal people by the tribe. In some cultures around the world, there are more than 2 accepted genders. In parts of Indonesia, there are five accepted genders. I discuss this more in a previous post: more than two genders?
With regards to the skeletal remains mentioned above, they are a male skeleton who was given a woman’s burial rite. The archaeologists do not believe that this was a mistake, since the culture they were studying was very careful and precise with burial rites. Men in this culture were traditionally buried lying on their right side with their heads pointing west, but this man was instead buried on his left side with his head pointing east, which is how women were typically buried. He was also buried with female items, such as an egg shaped pot.
Now, we can’t jump to conclusions here. This evidence doesn’t necessarily prove that this caveman was transexual or gay. However, it does shed light on an ancient culture’s willingness to bend gender norms. Definitely some interesting food for thought.
Metal Gaia 