Educator Guide: Early American Women Hunted Game

an illustration of a woman throwing a spear

In this illustration based on new archaeological finds, ancient hunters in the Andes Mountains surround their prey, wild relatives of the alpaca called vicuña. A woman in the foreground stands poised to hurl a spear with a spear thrower.

Matthew Verdolivo/UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services

About this guide

In this guide, students will learn about the discovery of an ancient American woman that is helping reshape scientists’ ideas about the roles of women in hunter-gatherer societies. Then, students will discuss how evidence and reasoning are used to build a scientific argument.

This Guide Includes:

Ancient women hunted big game too

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “Female big-game hunters may have been surprisingly common in the ancient Americas,” which describes how a woman buried with hunting tools thousands of years ago is challenging scientists’ ideas of ancient gender roles. A version of the story, “Early American women hunted game,” can be found in the December 5, 2020 issue of Science News.