Females, plants and power: A feminist reading of the text of the mid to late Bronze Age Aegean

The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate that prehistoric material remains may be analyzed through the use of a feminist poststructuralist textual analysis.;Over the past two decades, archaeological theory has evolved from a processual-positivism to a postmodern domain of analysis. Neo-Marxist archaeologies, Cognitive archaeologies, and Feminist archaeologies are now included as options for investigative perspectives. Despite this progress, archaeologists frequently deny the validity of non-empirically-based studies and regard poststructural interpretation as "non-archaeological". The author will demonstrate that a feminist poststructural critical analysis provides an equally valid method of analyzing the text of ancient cultures.;In addition, the author postulates an interpretation of ancient women which is not created by, and disseminated through, the predominantly androcentric archaeological theory which controlled the field until the introduction of postmodern inquiry. In this study, women are recognized as sociocultural subjects who stand as equally-valued objects worthy of research. Furthermore, the author demonstrates that archaeological investigations which utilize the theoretical and epistemological resources of a feminist poststructuralist perspective create an alternative meaning to the text of Western discourse and provide an equity of analysis previously denied the female subject.;This dissertation investigates the site of Aegean women's power during the Bronze Age, and proposes a unique hypothesis which places this power specifically within their knowledge and control of botanical pharmacology. Across this Bronze Age horizon, Aegean women are both consistently depicted in positions of power and concurrently allied with specific flowers and herbs.;This relationship was investigated through data obtained by the creation and analysis of five co-related tables of symbol and iconography. These tables serve to locate specific symbols in Minoan art, and relate this iconography to both the women and plants depicted. Information from these tables is compared and contextualized to propose a relationship between Aegean women and botanical materials---a relationship which illustrates the ideology of female power during this time period.;Using a feminist poststructuralist analysis, the text of the Aegean Bronze Age will be reread and reassessed. Findings from this reading will be used to propose an alternative "meaning" for this significant and previously ignored gender issue.