Household Archaeology in Polynesia: Historical Context and New Directions

Abstract

This review highlights archaeological investigations of precontact and historic house sites in Polynesia, a region noted for its diversity of chiefdoms in terms of scale and elaboration. Anthropological and historical perceptions of the Polynesian household have shifted over time, influencing the ways in which the household has been defined in archaeology. Early research emphasized houses as a unit of study within settlement pattern archaeology and as a means of delineating formal variability between sites and communities. Current studies stress a more holistic view of the household as a nexus of economic, social, and ritual activities. Diverse theoretical perspectives, such as the analytical concept of house societies, feminist archaeologies, landscape approaches, and agent-based models, have led to new archaeological approaches engaged with both the material and the nonmaterial aspects of the house and, in particular, how social relations structure the household. Current prominent themes include functional identification of house sites, understanding social variability, articulation of the household with the community, and comparative analyses of social complexity.

Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia

“…Despite these challenges, archaeologists of Southeast Asia have addressed many topics of relevance to a household archaeology approach, even if they are not using data collected specifically as part of a household-centered research program. There are several recurring themes in this literature that are shared by those who practice household archaeology in diverse world areas: the identification and description of houses and household activities; the domestic economy; domestic ritual; diversity and variability both within houses as related to questions of identity, specifically gender and age, and between houses, especially as related to status; and the identification of supra-household communities (e.g., Carballo 2010;Gahr et al 2006;Kahn 2016;Nash 2009;Pluckhahn 2010;Robin 2003;Stokes 2019). In this review, I examine how archaeologists of Southeast Asia have addressed these topics.…”