Gendered Spaces and Prehistoric Households: A Geospatial Analysis of Mumun Period Pithouses from South Korea

This article examines pithouse data to ascertain the social dimension of households, namely gender roles and relations, during the Early Mumun and Middle Mumun pottery periods (ca. 1300-500 B.C.) in Chinju [Jinju], South Korea. Pithouses and their interior remains from the Taep'yong [RR: Daepyeong] and P'yonggodong [RR: Pyeonggeo-dong] sites are analyzed through geospatial and statistical methods. Results indicate that the spatial expression of gender was minimal throughout the Mumun Period despite household space becoming increasingly differentiated. The house was the domain of all genders who largely shared their spaces. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that gender roles were relatively flexible and a gender hierarchy was lacking at the household level. KEYWORDS: Korea, Mumun, households, everyday life, gender, space, geospatial analysis.
Engendering prehistory is difficult because archaeologists rarely acquire data that can be readily identified as gendered. However, researchers that ignore gender risk operating under gendered assumptions; this has resulted in [...]