Cultural Logic and Practical Reason

The Structure of Discard in Ancient Maya Houselots

Bibliographic Data

ID5840202
AuthorsR Hutson (0000-0003-4907-2876, University of Kentucky), Travis W Stanton (0000-0001-9791-5642, Universidad de las Américas Puebla)
Year2007
Volume17
Issue2
Pages123-144
Publication date2007-05-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774307000212
OpenAlexW2150292209
LanguageEN
Citations received31
References cited47

Since the 1980s, archaeologists have challenged the idea that prehistoric actions were guided primarily by practicality and expedience. Rubbish disposal, a superficially mundane activity, provides a critical case for exploring the depth to which cultural logics penetrate. Ethnoarchaeological research on discard behaviour in Mesoamerican houselots has modelled rubbish disposal as a matter of expedience predictable by factors such as density of settlement and length of occupation. At the Classic period site of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, such models based on practical reason succeed only partly in predicting the distribution of rubbish. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical accounts of rubbish in Mesoamerica suggest that fully understanding its distribution requires attention to cultural logics. At Chunchucmil, ancient Maya cosmology explains the location of dumps within households. Thus, both practical and cultural logics structured discard. The case of Maya subsistence farming suggests that practical logic is subsumed by cultural logic, rather than the two logics conflicting. These findings show how broadly-held beliefs and predispositions are instantiated and reproduced in daily life

Maya · Mesoamerica · Settlement (finance · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Latin American history and culture