When archaeology was dominated by men | Letters

Thank you for the review of this fascinating book (The Dog’s Gaze by Thomas Laqueur review – the art of the canine, from Velázquez to Picasso, 17 April). I would like to question a sentence in the first paragraph: “Two fellow creatures, most likely a boy and a dog, stood together, about 10,000 years after the art was made, looking up at the walls in wonder.” There is no evidence that the child was a boy. Archaeology as a science emerged in the 19th century, dominated by men, who interpreted the evidence based on contemporary gender roles. Much of what we were told about early human lives has been challenged in the last few decades. When it comes to lives in the Upper Paleolithic, we have nothing to go on. Let us agree that if child and dog stood next to each other at the same time (and even that is still disputed), “girl and dog” is just as likely as “boy and dog”. Just like it would be now. Elke Bachler London