Ancient Households of the Americas

Conceptualizing What Households Do
edited by John G. Douglass and Nancy Gonlin

Details: Imprint: University Press of Colorado

University Press of Colorado - Ancient Households of the Americas

Paperback Price: $41.95
Ebook Price: Open Access

"This excellent book should be heavily used by anyone with an interest in household archaeology."
—North American Archaeologist

"There are a number of excellent studies that scholars interested in household archaeology will find highly useful."
—Journal of Anthropological Research

"This collection underscores the importance of household archaeology to the study of social dynamics."
—Choice

"This volume is an impressive one. . . . In an era in which household archaeology has become essential to archaeological praxis, this volume is indeed essential reading."
—Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched, a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good, a free electronic version of this title is also available.

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In Ancient Households of the Americas archaeologists investigate the fundamental role of household production in ancient, colonial, and contemporary households.

Several different cultures—Iroquois, Coosa, Anasazi, Hohokam, San Agustín, Wankarani, Formative Gulf Coast Mexico, and Formative, Classic, Colonial, and contemporary Maya—are analyzed through the lens of household archaeology in concrete, data-driven case studies. The text is divided into three sections: Section I examines the spatial and social organization and context of household production; Section II looks at the role and results of households as primary producers; and Section III investigates the role of, and interplay among, households in their greater political and socioeconomic communities.

In the past few decades, household archaeology has made substantial contributions to our understanding and explanation of the past through the documentation of the household as a social unit-whether small or large, rural or urban, commoner or elite. These case studies from a broad swath of the Americas make Ancient Households of the Americas extremely valuable for continuing the comparative interdisciplinary study of households.

John G. Douglass

John G. Douglass was the director of of research and standards at Statistical Research, Inc. and a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology. He conducted archaeological research in California, the American Southwest and Midwest, Honduras, and Belize for twenty-five years. His research interests focused on colonial/indigenous interaction in the American Southwest and California from both archaeological and ethnohistoric perspectives.

Nancy Gonlin

Nancy Gonlin is a Mesoamerican archaeologist who specializes in daily and nightly practices, household studies, and inequality. She is editor-in-chief of Ancient Mesoamerica, and her publications include the coedited volumes Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica, Ancient Households of the Americas, Human Adaptation in Ancient Mesoamerica and Archaeology of the Night. She is coauthor of Copán: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Maya Kingdom and The Archaeology of Native North America, 2nd ed. Gonlin is a professor of anthropology at Bellevue College in Washington.
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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60732-538-3
EISBN: 978-1-60732-174-3
Publication Month: April
Publication Year: 2012
Pages: 472
Illustrations: 6 B&W photographs, 72 line drawings, 13 maps, 31 tables
Discount Type: Short
ECommerce Code: 978-1-60732-173-6
Member Institution Access : Mountain Scholar