Early Man Was a Woman

History is written by the victors, and the victors are men. This assumption colours our view of every past era: The fittest survive. The strongest rule. “Human nature” is intrinsically warlike.

The record tells a different story.

Across the globe, over millennia—immortalised in bone, stone, and fired clay—archaeologists find: women. From 40,000 years ago until the birth of Christ, statuettes of women—in poses totally free of shame—overwhelmingly outnumber depictions of men.

Why did our prehistoric ancestors portray women so consistently, so predominantly? And what does this tell us about how our societies have evolved—or devolved?

In immersive imagery and sweeping sequences, award-winning author and artist Ulli Lust ranges with grace across archaeology, anthropology, art history, and her own lived experience to “reset” the human narrative. She brings to vivid life the prehistoric people whose greatest victory was sheer survival—a group effort achieved by women, men, children, and nonbinary people—in societies far more egalitarian than we, their modern descendants, have dared to imagine.

Magisterially conceived, intensively researched, brilliantly executed, Early Man Was a Woman is a towering achievement—a profound retelling of the human story—from the very beginning to today.

The translation of this book was supported by a grant from the Goethe-Institut.