Fri 8 Apr 2011 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A discovery touted as a "gay caveman" has unearthed some apparently archaic views of sexuality and gender identity in the world media. The skeleton, which dates back to about 2,500 to 2,800 B.C., was found in the outskirts of Prague. The way the body was buried on its left with the head facing west is the way a woman was laid to rest in the tradition of the tribe, Corded Ware has promoted headlines that a "gay caveman" has been discovered. Archaeologists have been quick to point out the remains are actually likely to be those of a third gender person. "We found one very specific grave of a man lying in the position of a woman, without gender specific grave goods, neither jewelry or weapons," lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova of the Czech Archaeological Society told Press TV. Vesinova and her colleagues told reporters that the man may have actually belonged to a "third gender". North Carolina anthropologist Kristina Killgrove has written on her blog Bone Girl that calling the skeleton gay is an over-simplication, "If this burial represents a transgendered individual (as well it could), that doesn't necessarily mean the person had a 'different sexual orientation ' and certainly doesn't mean that he would have considered himself (or that his culture would have considered him) 'homosexual,'" Killgrove wrote. The 'caveman' term has also been dismissed entirely, as the skeleton is actually from the period of pre-Bronze Age farmers.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 8th April 2011 - 11:24am