Unit 7
Family and Household, Community and Society

All human beings live and interact in social groups, each with clear spatial limits, at several different levels. Most often, people live in family groups in dwellings; other levels include the community, and the regional settlement system. In this unit we discuss these three basic human patterns, and how the composition of a household relates to community social structure and economic organization. We also describe how archaeologists gain information about the spatial characteristics of social organization.

Objectives

After completing this unit, you should be able to

1. differentiate household from family.
2. distinguish among the various kinds of families.
3. differentiate among polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry.
4. explain how the functions of the dwelling coincide with the functions of the household.
5. describe how archaeologists define activity areas.
6. describe two methods for estimating population.
7. explain the relationship between permanence of a community and the type of society living there.
8. describe the kinds of information about a society that can be discerned from house remains.
9. describe how the sociopolitical complexity of Aztec social organization is reflected at the household level.

After completing the viewing assignment for this unit, you should be able to

1. explain how archaeologists define and recover an ancient household.
2. describe what the excavations at Ceren indicate about Maya households.
3. explain why archaeologists study modern Maya households.
4. describe the factors that influence the size of a household.
5. describe the data used to infer the nature of the Teotihuacán household.
6. compare the households at Copán, Ceren and Teotihuacán.