Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Global comparative approaches to households and change in past societies / Lacey B. Carpenter and Anna Marie Prentiss -- Perspectives: Households as assemblages / Julián Salazar, Thomas J. Pluckhahn, and Jennifer G. Kahn -- Pottery, social memory, and household cooperation in the Woodland-Period Southeast US / Thomas J. Pluckhahn and Neill J. Wallis -- Household dynamics and the reproduction of early village societies in Northwest Argentina (200 BC-AD 850) / Julián Salazar -- Houses of power: community houses and specialized houses as markers of social complexity in the pre-contact Society Island chiefdoms / Jennifer G. Kahn -- Perspectives: Situating households within broader networks / Colin P. Quinn, Donna M. Glowacki, Carl J. Wendt, and Nathan Goodale -- Mitigating stress through organizational change in a thirteenth-century Mesa Verde alcove village / Donna M. Glowacki and Kay E. Barnett -- Collective action, cooperation, and Olmec sociopolitical organization: a household archaeology approach / Carl J. Wendt -- Monumentality of houses: collective action, inequality, and kinship in pithouse construction / Nathan Goodale, Colin P. Quinn, and Alissa Nauman -- Perspectives: household-centered approaches to transformative change / Lacey B. Carpenter, Charles S. Spencer, Elsa M. Redmond, and Casey R. Barrier -- The persistence of sedentism throughout Cahokia's urban moment: historical materialism and insights into the dominant built form / Casey R. Barrier -- The spaces and networks between households / Ian Kuijt -- Changes in household organization and the development of classic period Mimbres Pueblos / Barbara J. Roth -- New roles, new rules: elite residence, succession to public office, and political evolution in Oaxaca / Charles S. Spencer and Elsa M. Redmond -- Conclusion: Reflections and implications / Anna Marie Prentiss and Lacey B. Carpenter.

"Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change offers new perspectives on the processes of social change from the standpoint of household archaeology. This volume develops new theoretical and methodological approaches to the archaeology of households pursuing three critical themes: household diversity in human residential communities with and without archaeologically identifiable houses, interactions within and between households that explicitly considers impacts of kin and non-kin relationships and lastly change as a process that involves the choices made by members of households in the context of larger societal constraints. Encompassing these themes, authors explore the role of social ties and their material manifestations (within the house, dwelling or other constructed space), how the household relates to other social units, how households consolidate power and control over resources, and how these changes manifest at multiple scales. The case studies presented in this volume have broader implications for understanding the drivers of change, the ways households create the contexts for change, and how households serve as spaces for invention, reaction, and/or resistance. Understanding the nature of relationships within households is necessary for a more complete understanding of communities and regions as these ties are vital to explaining how and why societies change. Taking a comparative outlook, with case studies from around the world, this volume will inform students and professionals researching household archaeology and be of interest to other disciplines concerned with the relationship between social networks and societal change"--