Figurative language and our perceptuo-motor experiences frequently associate social status with physical space. In three experiments we examine the source and extent of these associations by testing whether people implicitly associate abstract social status indicators with concrete representations of spatial topography (level versus mountainous land) and relatively abstract representations of cardinal direction (south and north). Experiment 1 demonstrates speeded performance during an implicit association test (Greenwald et al., 1998) when average social status is paired with level topography and high status with mountainous topography. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrate a similar effect but with relatively abstract representations of cardinal direction (south and north), with speeded performance when average and powerful social status are paired with south and north coordinate space, respectively. Abstract concepts of social status are perceived and understood in an inherently spatial world, resulting in powerful associations between abstract social concepts and concrete and abstract notions of physical axes. These associations may prove influential in guiding daily judgments and actions.

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A critical strength of the discipline of archaeology is that its access to the material record of human history extends well beyond the written record and includes societies and cultures unaffected by Western colonialism and capitalist penetration. Bringing to light the social relations of earlier time periods, archaeology plays a critical role in documenting the full range of human variation, a role that cannot be filled by ethnography, history, or ethnohistory with their shorter temporal spans. By questioning essentialist notions of binary gender systems, gender research in archaeology can lead to a reevaluation of long-standing disciplinary assumptions about the nature of household organization, subsistence and craft production, ritual performance, and the structure of ancient states. The materiality of gender relations and gender identities in the archaeological record allows archaeologists to conduct historical comparisons of ancient, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic time periods to document changes as well as continuities in human social conditions. In so doing, archaeologists are able to expose ancient social scenarios that are distinctive from contemporary arrangements and thus widen the scope of the social sciences.Keywords: gender, feminist theory, household archaeology, ethnographic analogy T his volume demonstrates how archaeological data viewed through the lens of gender studies can lead researchers to question and reformulate current models of household organization, subsistence and craft production, ritual performance, and the structure of ancient states. Our central argument is that existing models of many aspects of prehistoric societies often assume the existence of rigidly binary gender systems. After three decades of feminist anthropology, few archaeologists claim that sex/gender roles and identities are fixed by the constants of human biology. And yet, a residue of assumptions from earlier views of male and female roles continues to color archaeologists' understandings of their data (Nelson 1997).These lingering assumptions include (1) binary and exclusive models of gender roles and identities, (2) an expectation of fixed routines of domestic labor even in the face of significant economic and political change in wider society, and (3) an expectation that gender identity will always constitute a key axis of social organization. These are homogenizing assumptions: they postulate universal features of gender in human society across time and space. Subjecting them to critical scrutiny enhances our ability to recognize variability in the archaeological record and enriches archaeological model-building and hypothesis-testing. Binary and Exclusive Gender Roles?Feminist and gender archaeology began as a response to gender stereotypes and gender bias in archaeological Elizabeth M. Brumfiel and Cynthia Robininterpretations of the past (Conkey and Spector 1984). Without much reflection, archaeologists had portrayed men in ancient societies as strong, aggressive, dominant, and active and women a...

Comparing the source of a commodity with the social levels of the people amongst whom it is found can reveal important aspects of social structure. This case study of a Maya community, using archaeological and ethnographic data, shows that pine and pine charcoal was procured at a distance and distributed unevenly in settlements. The researchers deduce that this commodity was not freely available in the market place, but was subject to political control.

The new direction in Maya archaeology is toward achieving a greater understanding of people and their roles and their relations in the past. To answer emerging humanistic questions about ancient people's lives Mayanists are increasingly making use of new and existing scientific methods from archaeology and other disciplines. Maya archaeology is bridging the divide between the humanities and sciences to answer questions about ancient people previously considered beyond the realm of archaeological knowledge. Q uestions about time, space, and people form the core of the social sciences. Given the material and spatial nature of the archaeological record, archaeologists have always been at the forefront of research on time and space. Over the past century Maya archaeologists have developed a deep understanding of the duration and spatial extent of occupation in the Maya area [which extends at least as far back as the PaleoIndian period ca. 10,000 before Christ and includes what is now Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico, western Honduras, and El Salvador; Fig. 1 (1-4)]. † The new direction in Maya archaeology, and archaeology in general, is toward a greater understanding of people in the past (5). The fundamental, but inanimate, questions of what, when, and where, are being complemented by animate questions of how, why, by whom, and with what meaning.This study of a peopled past brings to the interpretive foreground what we have always known: the disembodied materials that constitute the contemporary archaeological record are simply the remains of once active ancient landscapes. To answer humanistic questions about the lives of ancient people Maya archaeologists are increasingly making use of new and existing scientific methods to complement more conventional archaeological and art historical analyses. This multidisciplinary research bridges the divide between the humanities and sciences. It enables archaeologists to propose answers to questions previously considered beyond the realm of archaeological knowledgequestions about people's life cycles and life histories, and their perceptions of the world. Another significant breakthrough in the ability of archaeologists to understand ancient Maya people has been the decipherment of the Classic (anno Domini 250-900) Maya hieroglyphic writing system. Classic Maya rulers recorded versions of their life histories in hieroglyphic texts and images inscribed throughout their cities. These public narratives combined history, worldview, and personal and political goals, strategies, and agendas. They provide personalized glimpses into the lives of rulers and other elites. ‡ Finding Out About the PeopleAn example of the new multidisciplinary work in Maya archaeology comes from the Early Copán Acropolis Project, directed by Robert Sharer. Excavations in the civicceremonial heart of this ancient city in Honduras located the tomb of a male considered to be the dynastic founder, Yax K'uk' Mo'. Throughout world history-and Copán is no exception herekings have sought to legitimate their p...