Straight down the line? A queer consideration of hunter-gatherer studies in north-west Europe

Abstract

Abstract Hunter-gatherer studies have often been at the forefront of feminist critiques in archaeology, and have remained a clear front on which feminist issues are still regularly raised. While these approaches have challenged the androcentric stereotypes upon which archaeological interpretations of hunter-gatherers have been based, current accounts continue to construct their interpretations based around modern Western heteronormative concepts of identity. By presenting an alternative interpretation of the construction of hunter-gatherer identity from the west coast of Scotland, this paper will demonstrate that, through the application of queer theory to hunter-gatherer studies, we may finally move away from the pervasive heteronormative stereotypes upon which they have been constructed.