ABSTRACT
In the prehistory and protohistory of northern Italy there are several chronologically distinct bodies of evidence in which men and women are iconographically represented. The main subject of this essay is two of these, the statue-stelae and menhirs of the Chalcolithic period, dateable approximately to the late 4th and earlier 3rd millennia BC, and the situla art on bronze items which were manufactured between the 7th and the 5th centuries BC. In both the art forms gender differentiation is clearly indicated. The parameters of the interpretation of these representations are ill-defined, and both categories have thus been the subject of extensive debate. In both cases, however, it is clear that the question of their context is crucial for a full understanding, including the question of gender.
