GENDER AND PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY - ON THE SOCIAL AGENCY OF TECHNICALSTRATEGIES

Technological production is a materially grounded arena within which s ocial identities can be defined, expressed and mediated. A focus on th e microscale dynamics of social agency manifest in differentiated comm unities of people involved in material culture production and use draw s attention to potential contexts accounting for the kinds of site-spe cific technical variability often brushed aside as archaeological 'noi se'. This essay presents the outline of a conceptual framework and met hodology for studying the social agency of prehistoric technology with the goal of understanding the dialectic of gendered practices and tec hnical strategies. The main intent is to rethink the concept of techno logy so as to bring to prominence the artifice of technological activi ties as socially constituted. A case study considering late Ice Age (M agdalenian) bone and antler technologies practised in the French Midi- Pyrenees provides grounding for the theoretical discussion.