PERSPECTIVES: HOUSEHOLDS AS ASSEMBLAGES

JULIAN SALAZAR; THOMAS J. PLUCKHAHN; JENNIFER KAHN

Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change

Routledge

Año: 2020;

This chapter presents a background to, and theoretical diversity therein, archaeological studies of the household with a focus on household as assemblages. Starting with general definitions of the household, we discuss some of the main theoretical frameworks of household archaeology in order to contextualize the analytical tools applied in this set of chapters of this edited volume. We highlight relational approaches given their potential to grasp the dynamic, and often blurry, constitution of households. Throughout, we stress households as webs of relations of human and non-human agents. Conceived in such non-essentialist terms, household assemblages are much more than groups of people. They may include the activities, memories, beliefs, and practices of their members, as well as their ancestors, descendants, and spiritual beings. Thus, by extension, an archaeological household assemblage is more than the structural features associated with a former house.