Prehistoric women may not have had a passion for fashion
According to Salon’s Broadsheet blog, I’m not the only graduate student frustrated by portrayals of scientific discoveries in the popular media. Anthropology student Allison Sherrill indicts MSNBC for spinning news from an archaeological dig into an entirely new story. Discovery of a small female figurine dressed in clothing prompted the MSNBC journalist to cry, “Prehistoric women had a passion for fashion.” The truth, in Sherrill’s words:
This type of news coverage typically frustrates archaeologists. Unfortunately very common — in order to make a better story, the media frequently portray a very tentative conclusion as well-supported truth, and furthermore, those hypotheses are often twisted into a meaning that the archaeologist never intended. In this case, some figurines that portray women in some kind of costume have been spun into a sweeping conclusion about women’s innate love to shop. The article even mentions that the archaeologists felt that their most important find had to do with early copper production, but obviously, that headline does not look nearly as exciting (or maybe they just couldn’t think of one that rhymed?).