The archaeological gender- and the anthropological sex determination. Whem they do not meet together
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The determination of the gender in the archaeological skeleton finds, which in our case are related to the graves from Pohansko, is a breeding ground for the discussion from the very beginning of the collaboration of archaeologists with anthropologists. In both disciplines it depends on several aspects: what scientific opinion do experts hold, what the theoretical and practical erudition they have got and what methods they do use for the analysis of the graves or skeletons. In the early medieval stronghold Břeclav - Pohansko (CZ), specifically in its southern suburb, there were 4 graves (out of 205), in which were recorded the discrepancies in the definition of so-called archaeological and anthropological sex / gender. There are two children graves equipped with the earrings (graves No. 100, 155) and one adult individual with the earrings in functional position (grave No. 160) - all these skeletons were determined as the male individuals on the base of DNA analysis. On the other hand, according to DNA analysis one adult skeleton furnished with an ax was determined as a female individual (No. grave 103). In the paper we will discuss the quality of used evidences and the cogency and logical reasoning of both approaches - archaeological and anthropological. It can be said that the compromise achievement in the case of a contradiction between the anthropological and archaeological sex determination of a particular individual depends on several key points: on the state of the archaeological finding situation, on the quality of its documentation, on the condition of the skeletal material, on the used anthropological (archaeological) methods, on the archeologist's (anthropologist´s) erudition. If the power of the anthropologist's argument is not sufficient, the archaeologist will adapt the final interpretation to his own conviction. |
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