Exhibition: Women of Prehistory

Who were the women of prehistory? Forgotten in the male-dominated sciences of the 19th and 20th centuries, new discoveries are challenging the prejudices of the past through the combined lens of human sciences and archaeology.
What can we learn from their skeletons, the archaeological objects they used and the works of art that depict them? What do these remains tell us about their role in hunter-gatherer communities and their importance in the prehistoric imagination? Don't look for Madame Cro-Magnon sweeping the cave, she's out hunting. And now prehistoric man is also a woman!


The Femmes de la Préhistoire (Women of Prehistory) exhibition presents an overview of what we know about the place and role of women in prehistoric societies. It examines data from palaeontology, biology, physical and social anthropology and the symbolic and artistic universe of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer communities. Since the mid-19th century, the view of prehistoric women has owed more to the prejudices and projections of male prehistorians from a patriarchal society than to the examination of archaeological evidence. Between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, femininity, fertility and female representations played a major role in the symbolic universe and artistic traditions of prehistoric Eurasia. Through dozens of reproductions, anthropological remains, statuettes, objects of furniture art and elements of prehistoric finery, the exhibition sketches out an image of the prehistoric woman by crossing the viewpoints of the life sciences, the humanities, art history, as well as the cultural productions of our societies: comic strips, cinema, advertising and derivative products.

A universal subject in essence, the question of the original woman raises questions about the role and status of half of humanity before writing, and reminds us that, from the very beginning, prehistoric man was also a woman.
woman.