“That which was missing”: the archaeology of castration

Thesis

Castration has a long temporal and geographical span. Its origins are unclear, but likely lie in the Ancient Near East around the time of the Secondary Products Revolution and the increase in social complexity of proto-urban societies. Due to the unique social and gender roles created by castrates’ ambiguous sexual state, human castrates were used heavily in strongly hierarchical social structures such as imperial and religious institutions, and were often close to the ruler of an imperial...

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Authors: Reusch, K

• Publication date: 2013
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: Oxford University, UK
• Language: English
• Keywords: palaeopathology; bioarchaeology; social theory; castration; anthropometry; gender
• Subjects: Social cleavages; Social anthropology; Opera; Archeology; Endocrinology; History of Asia & Far East; History of medicine; Intergroup conflict; Economic and Social History; Middle East; Children and youth; History of the ancient world; Church history; National identity; Religions of antiquity; Biblical studies; Late antiquity and the Middle Ages; Social status; Asia; Religions of the Indian subcontinent.; Gender; International,imperial and global history; Anatomy; Music; Africa; Families; Global; Stereotyping and intergroup relations; Geographic region; History of science; Social mobility; Medical Sciences; History of childhood; Europe; Statistics (social sciences); History of Africa; Near East; Science and religion; Religions of the Far East; Interpersonal behaviour