Presenting

Image of an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a Goddess. shells, marble, copper, and salt over hundreds of kilometers." Within this region in early Crete, women were cultural leaders in all capacities, working as judges, doctors, athletes, artisans, priestesses and entrepreneurs. Cretan infrastructure was surprisingly advanced, with indoor plumbing running hot and cold water through ceramic pipes in homes, a system far more advanced than anything seen in Europe for another 3,500 years, and even today in some ird World countries. As a prominent trading center, fleets of ships traveled from Crete to South Africa, Ireland and the Near East. eir most enduring export was the Cretan linear script, which was passed down to the Greeks, notes Robert Graves in his book, e White Goddess (1976). According to Gimbutas, the Old European culture was slowly destroyed from about 4,200 B.C. until the end of the third millennium B.C. Only fragments of the culture survived in parts of the Mediterranean world, particularly in Minoan Crete. When the Mycenaean invaded the Minoans around 1,450 B.C., the last remnants of Old Europe vanished, ending the Neolithic age. Other important matriarchal cultures included the elegant and artistic Etruscans and the early Egyptians, with traces found in the later Egyptian empires as well. In these societies, families lived on land collectively owned by the mothers. A woman's husband or lover lived with her kin-group while children lived with their mother's family-group regardless of paternal lineage. Family property, including land and household goods, belonged solely to the women, clearly designated by ancient Egyptian law. ey had full authority over their belongings and themselves, regardless of marital status. e pre-Aryan Toda people of India, who practiced polyandry (the custom of having more than one husband at a time), were also a matrilocal culture whereby the husband lives with the wife's community. ey had an entirely different interpretation of modern-day polygamy: A woman chose a "social father" for her children among her many husbands, regardless of biological paternity. In these arrangements, the "father" did not automatically win the children's affection and respect, he had to earn it. Even more common, the mother's brother acted as "father" to her children, giving a whole new meaning to the "fun uncle" concept. Steve Taylor describes another egalitarian ancient civilization in his book, e Fall: e Insanity of the Ego in Human History Subscribe at GravitasMag.com | 47

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