The First Gay Caveman?

          In 2009, Czech archaeologists uncovered an exceptionally unusual burial. Standing out from the other skeletons, this particular male was buried in a position and orientation which had previously been described as 'female.' After the team published their findings, media outlets went wild for their speculation on the gender identity of the individual. Labelled as the first 'gay caveman,' this unnamed and unknown individual became something of a media sensation.
 

        Photo credit: http://abcnews.go.com/US/oldest-gay-man/story?id=13320808

          While nothing is necessarily wrong with this interpretation -- in the end we're only ever able to hypothesize on the cultural meanings associated with his burial -- a couple problems seem apparent with this identification. The cemetery site this individual was found in situates him as a part of the Corded-Ware culture, a large cultural-historic period associated with Neolithic European sites; the title of caveman is something of a misnomer since this individual lived roughly 5, 000 years ago. The term caveman is perhaps a little outdated but is also meant to refer to paleolithic peoples who lived 30, 000 - 20, 000 years ago.
          Another issue with the media's runaway claim is the problematic identification of  the individual as homosexual. Understanding gender in an archaeological context is incredibly tricky and often is not possible. This individual may well have been homosexual but we have no other archaeological evidence to support this other than his body's placement. While it stands a part from the other male burials, making the assumption of his sexual orientation might be revealing of our own culture's biases. The Czech team recognized this in their report when they described their interpretations which included the possibility of the individual being of a third gender status or transsexual. All of these hypotheses are valuable but we have no way to say for certain how the 'gay caveman' saw himself and was viewed by others in his culture.
          In summary, this case study serves as an excellent example of how archaeologists can attempt to identify gender from material remains. Although the tabloids and media outlets may have run away with this story it does raise this issue to a more public platform, and hopefully, more debate and understanding on topics within archaeology like gender roles.

Links

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8433527/First-homosexual-caveman-found.html

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/04/10/czech.republic.unusual.burial/