Introduction

Our assumptions about what we expect to see in the archaeological record influence our interpretations of that record and of the cultural adaptations we strive to understand. Understanding abandonment is a case in point. As the papers in this volume show, the term “abandonment” includes a variety of meanings and physical manifestations. Interpreting abandonment of habitations through the archaeological materials left at a site has implications at the level of the residential sites and in terms of regional settlement patterns. If we assume a single kind of abandonment in archaeological contexts, then the variations in assemblages must be interpreted along other lines – for example population, wealth, or social status. If we consider that the archaeological record may represent several different contexts for abandonment, then we can address the problem of how to distinguish between them.

Punctuated abandonment is the regular, planned movement of a household from one residence to another. The term “punctuated abandonment” implies both planned departure from and anticipated return to a residence. When regular intervals of abandonment and reoccupation are an integral part of a subsistencesettlement system, they strongly influence the kinds of goods and the organization and use of space at contemporary habitations. An ethnoarchaeological study of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) of northern Mexico provides an example of punctuated abandonment and the resulting material assemblages expected at residences. This discussion considers how formal and distributional aspects of materials at habitations are indicative of the general settlement system of punctuated abandonment.