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Gender and Ritual Space during the Pithouse to Pueblo Transition: Subterranean Mealing Rooms in the North American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jeannette L. Mobley-Tanaka
Jeannette L. Mobley-Tanaka*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Box 872402, Tempe AZ 85287-2402
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Abstract

Architectural patterning in the American Southwest has long been recognized as a solid manifestation of social patterns of Pueblo groups. The organization of pueblos around plazas and kivas emphasizes the importance of male-dominated ritual. The female role in ritual, while limited, centers around the production of food, an aspect that women not only participate in, but also perhaps control. What evidence exists for the antiquity of gender-specific ritual power? Subterranean mealing rooms, which appear in the Anasazi area at the time of the pithouse to pueblo transition, may indicate that these roles are quite ancient and were a part of the shift from informal household to more formal community ritual at such sites. They also may represent increased social stress and a corresponding attempt to alleviate such stress. The disappearance of these features from sites after a relatively short time may indicate the continued development of a religious system in which male-oriented aspects became increasingly dominant and female aspects became peripheral.

Los patrones arquitectónicos del suroeste norteamericano han sido reconocidos como una manifestatión sólida de patrones sociales de los grupos Pueblo. La organizatión de pueblos alrededor de plazas y kivas enfatiza la importancia del ritual masculino. El roi de la mujer en el ritual, aunque limitado, se centra alrededor de la productión de comida, un aspecto en el que ella no solamente participa pero tal vez controla. Cuál es la evidencia de la antigüedad del poder ritual asociado con un género específico? Las habitaciones de molienda subterráneas que aparecen en el área Anasazi al tiempo de la transitión de viviendas semisubterráneas “pithouse” a pueblos podrían indicar que estos roles son muy antiguos y formaron parte de un cambio de ritual familiar informal a ritual comunitario formal en esos sitios. Elias también podrían representar mayores tensiones sociales y un intente de aliviar taies tensiones. La desaparición de estos rasgos después de un periode relativamente corto podría indicar el contínue desarrollo de un sistema religoso en el cual aspectos masculines se volvieron más dominantes y aspectos femeninos fueron marginalizados.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 437 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1997

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