ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses analysis on the household level of the early Mesoamerican village and some units of analysis: the house itself, the “household cluster,” a term coined by winter for the house plus its associated burials, storage features, and activity areas, and the individual activity areas and features themselves. A household cluster consists of archeological remains, while a household consists of a group of people who interact and perform certain activities. Excavations at the site of Tierras Largas showed that three kinds of facilities—houses, bell-shaped storage pits, and graves—consistently occurred in spatial concentrations separated by open areas. These three main facilities were sometimes accompanied by other types of pits, ovens, or midden deposits. Bell-shaped pits are among the most characteristic features found within household clusters at Formative sites in the Valley of Oaxaca, and their contents have provided abundant information on domestic activities.
