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9 - Site structures and activities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2015

Nicholas David
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
Carol Kramer
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
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Summary

Analyses and interpretations of [site structure] patterns have until lately been based on three assumptions: (1) that activities are spatially segregated …; (2) that activities typically produce characteristic co-variant sets of artifacts and other refuse in proportion to the frequency of performance; and (3) that artifacts and other refuse associated with a particular activity are deposited at or very near the place of performance.

(James O'Connell 1987: 74)

There can be no general theory and no universal method for measuring and interpreting activity residues … we cannot look to ethnoarchaeology to provide the answers.

(Ian Hodder 1987a: 424)

In this chapter we discuss living space and activity areas of peoples, focusing especially on hunter-gatherers and others who do not produce substantial built structures. When approached archaeologically, such situations require that both the living context of the remains be inferred and the activities that took place within and around it. Where there are architectural remains (see chapter 10), artifacts and other debris can be directly related to structures and the spaces between and around them. We begin by sampling the ethnoarchaeological literature on the site structure of hunter-gatherers, the latter term requiring somewhat liberal interpretation, and proceed to survey evidence relating to peoples practicing other subsistence strategies. The chapter ends, rather than concluding, with discussion of studies that consider the extent to which gender is associated with activities, and whether these are likely to be archaeologically identifiable.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

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