This project will combine archaeology and ethnoarchaeology to study the role of storing foods and goods in the development of complex societies. Specifically, the researcher will look at household storage behavior in Mesoamerica by using historic and ethnohistoric documents and test a resulting model on prehistoric settlements in the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico. The goal of the research is to understand the physical remains of the storage of food and objects, the activity of storing things, and how the way people stored goods has affected the archaeological record. Analyses will concentrate on the socioeconomic role of storage particularly by specifying the relationships between status differences and agricultural production. The role of household storage in the development of complex societies has received little attention in the New World, even though archaeologists have recognized it as an important component in the development of social complexity. This research will begin to define the material remains of domestic storage in traditional agricultural societies and infer behavioral and social roles from this evidence. The storing of water, agricultural food surpluses and goods is crucial to complex societies around the world. What is being stored, how and where the stores are housed and who controls access to the facilities are crucial characteristics for understanding the social and economic aspects of class differentiation. This project should help archaeologists understand the full labor costs of this poorly understood aspect of social stratification in agricultural societies.
