Houses in the City: Domestic Economy and Space at Malpaís Prieto, Michoacan

Summary

Compared to other Postclassic cultures, not much attention has been given to the organization of daily life and domestic space in the Tarascan tradition. The political, religious and economic systems have been the focus of most archaeological and ethno-historical research, leaving the household systems understudied. It is yet critical to understand the fundamental role of household in the community organization, specifically in the context of the growing social and political complexity that led to the emergence of the Tarascan State. In this paper we synthesize the data collected at different domestic units (commoner and elite houses) excavated at one of the earliest Tarascan city: Malpaís Prieto, located in Northern Michoacán, Mexico. We examine the spatial organization (e.g. architecture, activities), the production and consumption of goods (e.g. ceramics, lithics and faunal remains), in order to reconstruct the daily life at this early urban site, discussing the social, economical and spatial systems of households, and their role in the urban community structure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20093