Living in Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparative Analysis of Formative Mesoamerican Households

In this thesis, the data on households from the archaeological sites of Chalcatzingo, Dzibilchaltún, El Remolino, Kaminaljuyú, and San José Mogote are analyzed and compared to each other. In this way, an overview of Formative Mesoamerican households is reached. The aim of this research is to explore what we can interpret about the people living within these households with regards to materiality, social organization, and behavior. Furthermore, the data from the different case studies are compared with each other, in order to reveal general trends and significant differences between Mesoamerican regions. The results show that households from each of the case studies presented general similarities. Houses were primarily made out of clay construction materials, i.e. adobe and/or wattle and daub, which would have been part of the identity of the people living in them. These houses were usually arranged in patio groups with closely knit connections. Ancestors remained very much present...Show moreIn this thesis, the data on households from the archaeological sites of Chalcatzingo, Dzibilchaltún, El Remolino, Kaminaljuyú, and San José Mogote are analyzed and compared to each other. In this way, an overview of Formative Mesoamerican households is reached. The aim of this research is to explore what we can interpret about the people living within these households with regards to materiality, social organization, and behavior. Furthermore, the data from the different case studies are compared with each other, in order to reveal general trends and significant differences between Mesoamerican regions. The results show that households from each of the case studies presented general similarities. Houses were primarily made out of clay construction materials, i.e. adobe and/or wattle and daub, which would have been part of the identity of the people living in them. These houses were usually arranged in patio groups with closely knit connections. Ancestors remained very much present within life and had important roles to play in the household. Decorations seem to have been used as a kind of language providing information about identity and delineating contexts. Structures and burials had very consistent orientations throughout the case studies, suggesting an overlying, Mesoamerican worldview. Each household provided for its own basic needs in terms of food preparation, tool production, and household rituals. They were also involved in partial specializations, permitting each household to exchange products for other necessary goods in an extensive local and regional market system. The elite played an important role in long distance exchange, and they had important ties to the ceremonial centers of each site. However, the exact ways these general similarities were expressed differed from site to site. Each case study retained its particular characteristics and, with that, its proper identity. It seems that each of these sites was part of a wider, Mesoamerican network and identity bridging geographical and historical distances, but at the same time the particular identities of individual settlements or regions were maintained.Show less

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Living in Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparative Analysis of Formative Mesoamerican Households