Household Archaeology

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Abstract
Household archaeology developed in the 1980s as a reaction to the dominant regional scale of traditional ecological–evolutionary models in archaeology by focusing on the study of intrasettlement relations. The first household archaeology studies were designed to provide detailed microscale analysis of demographic, social and economic processes of evolutionary change. These studies focused on what households do, rather than what their social form is. The initial impetus for household archaeology came from archaeologists who were excavating well-preserved architectural remains in Mesoamerica, the southwest US and in Europe. Household archaeology studies were enriched by models (mostly Marxian) that emphasized the role of dominance structures and social inequality within and between households in larger socioeconomic transformations. Archaeological evidence of the spatial differentiation of domestic production and its architectural context became the heart of these household archaeology studies. In the late 1990s household archaeology transformed into a number of strands that embraced the post-processual critique in archaeology, recognizing the historical contingency of the social practice of individuals in the household and their role as the foundation of larger social transformations, and the active role of materials—including houses—in creating and maintaining the world of these household actors.