Myriam Rosen-Ayalon – författare

Written by a distinguished group of feminist archaeologists, In Pursuit of Gender examines the role of gender in archaeology, an area that has long been neglected. The chapters in this volume represent sites and cultures that have been interpreted or reinterpreted from the perspective of gender, exploding old assumptions about women and the roles they held. Greatly illuminating the subject of gender from the perspective of their own regional traditions, the authors take the reader through an authoritative and comprehensive discussion of gender archaeology in Asia, Africa, North and South America. Societies represented include hunter-gatherers, early horticulturalists, incipient and well-developed states, historic communities, as well as ethnoarchaeological explorations. The chapters are characterised by a greater specificity in methods, and the emergence of a social archaeology that considers the agency of both men and women. In Pursuit of Gender advances the study of gender in archaeology with detailed data, a world-wide scope and carefully reasoned conclusions that move into new territory, paving the way towards further research in gender-based theory.

Despite political upheavals under Muslim domination in the Middle Ages, Palestine was a center of great artistic activity recognized for its incredible dynamism. Its unique contribution to the Islamic “macrocosm,” however, never became the subject of extensive study. Numerous archeological excavations on this relatively small geographic area reveal the existence of extremely well preserved monuments of high architectural quality and exceptional religious value. This is what Myriam Rosen-Ayalon exposes in this thorough introduction to Palestinian Islamic art and archeology. In chronological order she presents here for the first time the multifaceted and long-lasting achievements of Islamic art in Palestine, filling the gap of years of neglect on the subject.