by Bisserka Gaydarska and Emma Watson
Fertility is a much-loved and long-lived theme in archaeology, ranging from soil fertility being used to explain settlement patterns to female figurines being linked to regeneration, earth cycles and fecundity. However, actual human fertility in the past - that is the ability to have children - does not enjoy such attention, with infertility attracting even less research interest. This short presentation will draw attention to two sets of figurines, traditionally viewed as Goddesses, that were re-interpreted as infertility aiding kits. It also exposes the reaction of two male archaeologists deeming such approaches to (in)fertility as non-scientific.