Gendered Cooperation and Competition: A Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Floor Activity Patterns in Housepit 54

Summary

Housepit 54 at the Bridge River site, British Columbia provides a unique look at the evolution of interpersonal dynamics within a single household over time. The sequence of 17 floors evinces a wide-range of activity patterns and spatial configurations reflecting performed labor. Current theories of intra-household dynamics posit that cooperative, complimentary work should underlie individual social interactions within a single household. However from late Bridge River 2 (ca. 1300-1500 cal BP) to Bridge River 3 (ca. 1300-1100 cal BP) the village began to approach a Malthusian ceiling and such cooperation shifts in congruence with a rise in inequality, as competition for resources manifested both between households and within households as well. This breakdown in cooperation potentially had wide-ranging effects on the social life of individuals and possibly created new avenues for the gender division of labor. Multivariate statistical analysis is performed in order to understand the association between cooperative or competitive behavior and activity area variation. In addition, a framework of gendered labor is overlaid to see if gender relationships also shifted from cooperation to competition. By studying these interactions, a more thorough understanding of the interplay between resource availability and social adaptation at the household level is illuminated.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Complex Fisher-Foragers of the Interior Pacific Northwest: The Housepit 54 Project at Bridge River, British Columbia

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17647