Inspiring Inclusive Science
How do researchers identify gender and sex in the past? SASSAk12 brings an interactive archaeology workshop to Queer Science Day 2025 to answer this question.
On May 18, 2025, SASSAk12 was honored to participate in Queer Science Day. SASSAk12 had been wanting to collaborate with Queer Science for some time and was thrilled to be able to join LGBTQ+ researchers, youth, educators, and community members to celebrate inclusive science at this event. All the participants in this event were wonderful to work with, asking thoughtful questions and sparking rich conversations in each of the dynamic, hands-on learning workshops.
SASSAk12 board members, Drs. Katrina Yezzi-Woodley and Ivy Faulkner, presented an activity on gender and sex in archaeology. This activity involved participants examining a faux-burial with grave goods and sharing their initial impressions about the identity of the individual and the society to which they belonged. Participants were then introduced to the ways in which archaeologists have approached real burial contexts and how previous interpretations have changed based on both new data, such as DNA analysis, and challenges to previous assumptions based on binary systems.
Finally, the workshop shifted to some other types of material culture that can inform archaeological understanding of sex and gender: dress and representations of human figures (i.e. statues or figurines). After sharing some examples, students were challenged to engage in a thought experiment utilizing an “ancient” artifact from circa 1990. Check out the slide below and share with us what you think!
The entire experience was fun and rewarding for both youth participants and adult volunteers. SASSAk12 can’t wait to collaborate with Queer Science more in the future!
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