The effects of Euro-American contact on the roles and status of Native American women on the southern Columbia Plateau: An archaeological study

Many contemporary models of the effects of Euro-American contact on the lives of native American women predict that participation in marker economies and the influences of western value systems resulted in diminished status for women within their traditional societies. Mortuary data from the southern Columbia Plateau demonstrate that the status of native American women was not diminished by processes associated with Euro-American settlement of the region. It is further apparent that throughout the Late Prehistoric, Proto-historic, and Historic periods the status of females and males was equivalent. The sexual division of labor expected within hunting and gathering societies was not found to be represented in the data until the Historic period. Males, however, were found to be associated with artifact types associated with political leadership and warfare during the Proto-historic and Historic periods.