Thursday marked another session in the Fred Wendorf Distinguished Lecture Series in McCord Auditorium in Dallas Hall. The night’s feature speaker was Dr. Olga Soffer, who offered a different take on the history of ancient women in “In Praise of ‘Older’ Women: Women’s Work and Women’s Lives 25,000 Years Ago.”
Dr. Soffer is a Professor of Anthropology and the Head of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When she was introduced to the audience, it was remarked that when it came to studying anthropology, she had taken the “road less traveled.” She worked as an executive in the fashion industry for a decade, using her paychecks to study art on the side. Over the years, her studies of art eventually morphed into anthropology studies, ending in her receiving multiple Ph.D.s from NYU.
Dr. Soffer began by describing how her travels to Russia were similar to a homecoming experience for her. Her family’s ancestors hailed from Russia but were forced to leave in 1917 as a result of the Russian Revolution. Her studies in anthropology eventually led her back to the Central Russian Plains, where numerous excavation sites were to be found.
Dr. Soffer’s research is primarily on the role of the female in ancient history. She believes that there was much more depth to the female role in society as opposed to popular beliefs of rugged, masculine alpha males always doing everything. During her time in Russia, she found campsites where evidence was found that females did indeed have a larger role in society.
Instead of turning to obvious archaeological items such as mammoth bones and ancient weapons, Dr. Soffer focused more on the small items surrounding the Paleolithic “campsite” areas that were excavated.
She analyzed anything from rabbit bones to plant remains, and discovered surprising results. One in particular was imprints that were originally believed to be thumbprints and palmprints left from the prehistoric humans, but after careful examination, were found to be the imprints left by ancient textile clothing.
This clothing included items such as belts and headdresses, and Dr. Soutter used recovered statues and statuettes to depict how these articles of clothing were created and used by prehistoric women. Dr. Soffer had even found enough evidence to analyze the different fashion trends in these campsite areas spreading throughout Russia and eastern Europe.
Dr. Soffer also explored the role of feminism in historical research and how it has been affected by primarily male historians and scientists. She used examples such as the recent “Little Lady of Flores” find in the islands between Sumatra and East Timor, and how after discovering it scientists and journalists mass-produced sketches of a clearly male specimen, whereas the original remains were of a female.
Specimens of ceramics, sewing needles and others from a collection of over 10,000 fragments were shown on the PowerPoint presentation as Dr. Soffer gave examples of the various techniques of basket weaving and textile making that had been found at the excavation sites, suggesting that women from the past weren’t as primitive as modern historians have led modern society to believe.
