I would have never thought that the study of the pre-history
of writing was so much fun. My own opinion on the
gyn-xyz theories of
ancient societies, and their countertheories, is that both are right, in a way.
The
gyn-xyz theoreticians are right in the assumption that there existed
civilized (ie. of complex social structure) ancient societies were not {patrist
/ patriarchic} and the counter-
gyn-xyz theories are also right, in that
it is nonsense to speak of a
matrist society. Since the connotations of
the terms
matristic and
matriarchic are just a negative mirror
image of a
patrist concept that Bachofen (as arch-patrist, and patrician,
Röder 1996: 25, 19-30, 106) had projected onto ancient societies, and that
served to confuse the issue and its protagonists ever since. To speak of the
societal status and power function of women only as a mothers of children (and
heads of a family), is already a quite
patriarchic
[94] social mode of thought. In my
view, there is at least a theoretical
possibility
[95], that there was a highly
developed and sophisticated cultural substrate in the ancient societies of Old
Europe (or better, ancient EurAsia), which extended to include the cultural
sphere of Chatal Hüyük and Hacilar (as reported by Mellaart), that
indeed gives us a possibility for an alternative to think of a
future
society that transcends the
matrist /
patrist polarity. In the
present societal and political situation on this globe, it may be interesting
but not very useful, to find out that there may have been a society of an
alternative societal organization in the conditions of ancient, neolithic
humanity. What we need now is a workable projection for a future humanity that
avoids the the more scandalous and destructive pitfalls of past societal
organization. So we can use the conclusions drawn by Riane Eisler in her works
and put them on a different base, as I am sketching here, and work from there to
conceptions of more workable, and more agreeable future societies. It may be a
personal preference that need not be shared by all people on this planet, if we
can interpret the view of Riane Eisler in: "Sacred pleasure", of sacraments that
are the more sacramental, the more pleasure they bring. This is quite a
sacrilege by present-day moral and religious standards. (The standards of
present-day societies are more governed by the puritan moral code: you can do
anything you want, as long as you don't enjoy it).
