Get 3 months for $0.99 a month + $20 Audible credit

LIMITED TIME OFFER
Women's Work cover art

Women's Work

The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 1, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Join Audible for only $0.99 a month for the first 3 months, and get a bonus $20 credit for Audible.ca. Bonus credit notification will be received via email.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Women's Work

Written by: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Narrated by: Donna Postel
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 1, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.83

Buy Now for $27.83

About this listen

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated newer archaeological methods - methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.

©1994 Elizabeth Wayland Barber (P)2019 Tantor Archaeology Gender Studies Social Sciences World Ancient History Textile Art
All stars
Most Relevant
I sat and listened to this while spinning and knitting and it made me feel connected to many women in history in a way I never thought of and how old of a craft this has been for women. Very thought provoking.

Amazing history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really appreciated the blend of explanation of folklore and textile and labour work in this history book

Amazing!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As a fiber artist, I found this both inspirational and informative. I am amazed at the information gathered and how yet I am thankful for it. I have always been more interested in traditional fiber arts then more modern influences and often had a lot to ponder. Some of my questions have been answered only to be replaced by a mountain of new ones and I hope that this book inspires more scientific minds to search for more of the truth that has been discarded in the past. Oh to think of how much has been discarded just puts pangs in my heart, we will perhaps never know. I can't help but wonder if the treasures of 'Must Farm' archeology site are a lot of luck or there are still plenty to find if we would just open our eyes to it. Actually trying to recreate instead of just documenting sounds so important in researching these arts and I am thankful someone is taking the time to do so.
I read this quickly and will read it again. I suspect it is like one of those movies that you discover so much more the second time because there is just so much important information to take in in one sitting.

Oh the twisted thread of history...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nuanced and insightful drawing from lots of different sources to construct an impressively cohesive narrative

Very well researched

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.