ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the actual peoples of the past and their interactions as men and women, as small groups within diverse societies, and as communities trading with one another. To engender the past means to focus not only on major material achievements such as metallurgy or pot making, or on ancient environments, but also on interpersonal relations and the social dynamics of everyday activities. Gender research in archaeology is concerned not just with women, but with people as individuals and their contributions to society. For the most part, archaeologists have focused their attention on two broad topics: culture change and relationships between human societies and their environments. From the archaeologist's point of view, it is fascinating that one can use material objects such as pottery to study how people negotiated their social positions and resisted the submergence of their own culture. Prehistoric exchange was an important variable that developed in conjunction with sociopolitical organization.
