Biography

Conkey graduated from Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...

 in 1965. She is a professor of Anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, where she is the director of the university's Archaeological Research Facility and holds a rare endowed chair (Class of 1960 Professor of Anthropology). Her work is mainly centered in the French Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

, where she works on lithic dispersal in the Upper Paleolithic

Upper Paleolithic

The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...

.

Professor Conkey was one of the first archaeologists to introduce feminist theory into archaeology, and is thus a pioneering figure in the subfields of gender archaeology

Gender archaeology

Gender archaeology is a method of studying past societies through their material culture by closely examining the social construction of gender identities and relations...

 and feminist archaeology

Feminist archaeology

Feminist archaeology employs a feminist perspective in interpreting past societies. It often focuses on gender, but also considers gender in tandem with other factors, such as sexuality, race, or class. Feminist archaeology has critiqued the uncritical application of modern, Western norms and...

. Her other recent field research includes an interpretive analysis of Paleolithic art of southern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 dating to between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago. She has challenged the theory that cave art was primarily a male practice whose purpose was sympathetic magic

Sympathetic magic

Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence.-Similarity and contagion:The theory of sympathetic magic was first developed by Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough...

to ensure success in big game hunting.

Professor Conkey became President of the Society for American Archaeology in 2009.