{"title":"Occupancy and the Use of Household Space Among the Dukha","authors":"R. Haas, Todd A. Surovell, M. O'brien","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2018.1440510","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Archaeologists commonly encounter the occupation surfaces of ephemeral prehistoric houses. Within those spaces, artifacts can exhibit considerable spatial structure raising the question of what that structure can tell us about human behavior. We explore a simple site-formation model in which household occupancy, defined here as the average number of individuals who simultaneously occupy a house, positively predicts artifact dispersion. We confront the model with ethnographic observations on the use of space in 19 houses inhabited by Dukha reindeer herders of the Mongolian Taiga. The analysis shows that average occupancy predicts dispersion in the use of household space but that systemic noise, sampling error, and event mixing are likely to overwhelm the behavioral signal. Other factors may therefore be equally or more important in driving the spatial dispersion of household artifacts. The study further suggests an analytical framework for exploring relationships between behavior and archaeological structure using ethnoarchaeological data.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2018-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ethnoarchaeology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2018.1440510","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
ABSTRACT Archaeologists commonly encounter the occupation surfaces of ephemeral prehistoric houses. Within those spaces, artifacts can exhibit considerable spatial structure raising the question of what that structure can tell us about human behavior. We explore a simple site-formation model in which household occupancy, defined here as the average number of individuals who simultaneously occupy a house, positively predicts artifact dispersion. We confront the model with ethnographic observations on the use of space in 19 houses inhabited by Dukha reindeer herders of the Mongolian Taiga. The analysis shows that average occupancy predicts dispersion in the use of household space but that systemic noise, sampling error, and event mixing are likely to overwhelm the behavioral signal. Other factors may therefore be equally or more important in driving the spatial dispersion of household artifacts. The study further suggests an analytical framework for exploring relationships between behavior and archaeological structure using ethnoarchaeological data.
期刊介绍:
Ethnoarchaeology, a cross-cultural peer-reviewed journal, focuses on the present position, impact of, and future prospects of ethnoarchaeological and experimental studies approaches to anthropological research. The primary goal of this journal is to provide practitioners with an intellectual platform to showcase and appraise current research and theoretical and methodological directions for the 21st century. Although there has been an exponential increase in ethnoarchaeological and experimental research in the past thirty years, there is little that unifies or defines our subdiscipline. Ethnoarchaeology addresses this need, exploring what distinguishes ethnoarchaeological and experimental approaches, what methods connect practitioners, and what unique suite of research attributes we contribute to the better understanding of the human condition. In addition to research articles, the journal publishes book and other media reviews, periodic theme issues, and position statements by noted scholars.