Reimagining the Past

Now is the time to realise the importance of reimagining collective histories and mythologies.

For all the credit given to the originality of our imaginations, these require references and an “education” of sorts to draw on for new ideas to evolve. When history is only written from a singular perspective, it robs our imagination of a more complete picture – only permitting a certain portion of water to be drawn from the well. In order to imagine a city built by women, we need to reimagine our collective histories and mythologies; embarking on a journey of excavation to unearth the hidden stories of women who have come before us. And not just from this century and the one immediately preceding this one, but further back where history and mythology begin to blur.

In the Palaeolithic period, we find humans living in a subsistence economy consisting of hunting, gathering and foraging. We also come across the assumption that men were hunters and women gatherers or child bearers, without any prominent roles in the subsistence strategies of their group. This bias still persists today. In Distorting the Past: Gender and the Division of Labor in the European Upper Paleolithic (1), author Linda Owens sets out to debunk the myth that men were hunters and suggests that women had a much greater influence in society. And looking at some of the most famous Palaeolithic artworks; the famous cave art markings found in France and Spain suggests this could be true. National Geographic has reported evidence that three quarters of the handprints found in cave art from this period were made by females, suggesting women were some of the first landscape artists of society.

1. The Spotted Horses mural in Pech Merle cave, France.

© Courtesy of Dean R. Snow, The Pennsylvania State University

Fast forward to the Sumerians, and we come to the evolution of god and goddess myths. These were used to support the emerging hierarchical structures of the royal families of the time. One of the most enduring myths to emerge from this period is that of the underworld and the figure who returns in spring to allow life to return to the Earth. In the Sumerian myth it’s Innanna (or Ishtar) and Dumuzi, in the Ugaritic myth it’s Anat and Baal, and in the Egyptian myth it’s Isis and Osiris. In all three stories the goddesses are linked with agricultural abundance, political stability, legitimating kings, and restoring the land to a state of plenty. And they are also associated with water and flooding.

The first examples of landscape design emerged during this time. Landscapes which arose from contemplating the miraculous effects of irrigation on a dead world. As part of the ancient temple complexes, Paradise Gardens developed that idealised the flooding of the landscape and were seen as the metaphysical expression of the pantheon of the gods and goddesses. The most famous of these complexes was the Tower of Babel and its Hanging Gardens, most likely an ancient ziggurat which the Babylonians called the Tower of Etemenanki or “House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth”. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are a famous expression of early manufactured landscapes. The ziggurats and paradise gardens eventually evolved into the pyramids that characterise Egyptian society; the Nile forming a continuous metaphysical landscape whose annual flooding symbolised divine order and permanence. The physical spiritual landscapes of the ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians reflected each other; each closely tied to the three goddesses, creating a rich expression of architecture, myth, and designed gardens.

The blending of landscape, terraced architecture, and sculpture creates one of the greatest architectural wonders of the world and a masterpiece of pharaonic design.

Another important female Egyptian figure is Hatshepsut, an Egyptian queen and pharaoh who reigned from 1504 - 1483 BCE and is considered one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt. She commissioned hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, that were grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors. Hatshepsut was an extraordinary woman. She is the first recorded female ruler in history and the first recorded female patron of large scale art and architectural projects. By far the most famous of Hatshepsut’s many architectural contributions is her funerary temple Deir-el-Bahari in Thebes, and one of the most striking examples of the creativity that flourished during her reign. The blending of landscape, terraced architecture, and sculpture creates one of the greatest architectural wonders of the world and a masterpiece of pharaonic design. Like Hatshepsut herself, it is a true original.

2. Burney Relief Panel depicting the Goddess Inanna. The panel can be found in the British Museum.

© BabelStone CCO

These are only a few examples of the many stories of powerful women and their influence on our mythology and landscape waiting to be unearthed. To reveal forgotten collective histories and mythologies helps us reinterpret and recontextualise our own knowledge base and gives space back to figures that used to be there. Allowing our imaginations to draw from the well without limit. like the soft earthen banks swallowed by the flooding Nile in the springtime, our imaginations become fertile places from which new seeds can grow. Seeds with the power to imagine cities built by men, by women, and all types of people, making new space for each other in the future.

3. Egypt. Luxor. Deir el-Bahari (or Deir elBahri). The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut - aerial view in early sunlight.

© Adobe Stock Photos #111868231

Arlene Dekker

Arlene Dekker

Arlene Dekker is a landscape architect with nearly 10 years’ experience working on major projects at various scales in the public realm.

References

1. Owen, Linda R. Distorting the Past: Gender and the Division of Labor in the European Upper Paleolithic. Kerns Verlag Tubingen (November 2005).