Marga Sánchez Romero, a professor of Prehistory at the University of Granada and a leading voice in feminist archaeology in Spain, argues in an interview that prehistory has been misrepresented as a sequence of violence and hierarchies. She emphasizes that new questions are reshaping our understanding of the past, highlighting that care, cooperation, and solidarity were as crucial as conflict in human evolution. The conversation covers biases in archaeological interpretation, the famous Viking tomb of Birka, the origins of inequality, and the role of museums in creating more inclusive narratives.
This matters because it challenges long-held assumptions about human history that have justified power structures and social inequalities. By reframing prehistory to include the experiences of women, children, and ordinary people, Sánchez Romero advocates for a more nuanced and inclusive historical narrative that can inform contemporary debates about gender, power, and social organization. The interview underscores how archaeology and museum practices can either reinforce or dismantle dominant cultural narratives.