Publication Date
October 2004
Abstract
In a recent paper Oldroyd (2003) explored the idea, first gaining ground in the 19th century, that a time once existed in prehistory when society was universally matriarchal, and counting and calculation were the exclusive preserves of women. Despite the extreme antiquity of the subject, making proof difficult, there is some supporting evidence. The topic is noteworthy for a number of reasons, not least because it suggests an earlier place for women in the history of accounting than is usually acknowledged. In speculating that the first reckoning/accounting devices - a series of notched bone awls dating from the Upper Paleolithic (c.30000-10000 BC) - were connected to the exchange of women and goods, Schmandt-Besserat (1988, p. 1), for example, accepted the patriarchal basis of the earliest accounting systems without question. The topic is also remarkable because it provides a rare opportunity to explore the dichotomy proposed by some feminist accounting authors between the ways in which women and men see the world, in relation to an historical issue that has actually been pursued along such bipartite lines. It is the historiographical implications that are the focus of the present paper.
Recommended Citation
Oldroyd, David
(2004)
"Feminising prehistory,"
Accounting Historians Notebook: Vol. 27:
No.
2, Article 8.
Available at:
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aah_notebook/vol27/iss2/8