The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future

Cynthia Eller is a scholar of American religion who had herself written sympathetically about the feminist spirituality movement before publishing this book, a fact stated here because it strengthens rather than weakens the critique that follows: her argument against a peaceful, goddess worshipping, matriarchal prehistoric culture is a documented change of assessment made from inside the field rather than an outside attack, and Beacon Press is an independent nonprofit press with no stake in either outcome. The book argues that the specific historical thesis, developed chiefly from Marija Gimbutas's archaeological interpretation of Old European artifacts, is not supported by the evidence, a conclusion now broadly accepted among archaeologists working on the periods concerned even as the thesis remains defended within parts of the Goddess Movement itself. This record has not traced scholarly rebuttal to Eller's archaeological claims. Use it for the scholarly case against the matriarchal prehistory thesis; use Eller's earlier book for the movement's practice independent of that historical question.