Julia Hendon | Gettysburg College (original) (raw)

Papers by Julia Hendon

Research paper thumbnail of Heterarchy, History, and Material Reality:  ‘Communities’ in Late Classic Honduras (2000)

Research paper thumbnail of The Society for American Archaeology's Committee on the Status of Women: a Progress Report for 1991-1993

Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Production as Social Process

Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, 2007

The different ways that the authors of the chapters in this volume have reconsidered production s... more The different ways that the authors of the chapters in this volume have reconsidered production serve as examples of the application of theories of production and practice to specific bodies of archaeological data. Two themes that inform many of the chapters are considered in greater depth in this commentary. The first is the question of scale and the social subject. It is argued that the authors have attempted, within the limits of their data, to demonstrate what may be learned through consideration of particular social subjects in particular social settings, paying close attention to how what is produced, where, and by whom create possibilities for social identity. The second theme is the role of ideology and the construction of moral frameworks of value. All the chapters emphasize ideological or symbolic aspects of production that allow the authors to consider the relationship between production and social difference. It is concluded that approaching production as socially embedded action should spark new ideas or directions for research on the part of authors and readers alike.

Research paper thumbnail of ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE ORGANIZATION OF DOMESTIC LABOR: Household Practice and Domestic Relations

Annual Review of Anthropology, 1996

... This review summarizes issues raised by economic and feminist anthro-pologists about the mean... more ... This review summarizes issues raised by economic and feminist anthro-pologists about the meaning of the terms household and domestic and then considers research on householdarchaeology, craft specialization, and gender relevant to the study of the organization of ...

Research paper thumbnail of On Access to Anthropological Literature

Current Anthropology, 1992

Research paper thumbnail of Feasting at Home

While there is a considerable amount of information available relating to feasting in small-scale... more While there is a considerable amount of information available relating to feasting in small-scale societies lacking permanent institutions of political authority (e.g., Kahn 1986; Kan 1989; Young 1971), and on how feasting could lead to the development of these institutions (Clark and Blake 1994; Hayden 1996), relatively few studies have focused on the role of feasting in complex societies whose members potentially had more varied options for signaling social status and prestige. In this paper, I examine archaeological evidence from the Late to Terminal Classic period Maya settlement in the Copan valley, Honduras (Figure 8.1) to determine how feasting may have figured in the politics of complex societies in Mesoamerica. I begin with a discussion of what is known of Mesoamerican feasting practices based on the ethnohistoric documentation, including the sixteenth-century writings on the Maya of Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan (Tozzer 1941; see Restall and Chuchiak 2002), and the sixteenth-century compilation of information on Aztec culture known as the Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1953-1982). I then move to a consideration of the ceramic and architectural data recovered from several elite patio groups in the Copan valley. After assessing vessel functions and reviewing the Copan assemblage’s functional groupings, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the spatial distribution of these groupings in the elite compounds as they

Research paper thumbnail of Textile production as craft in Mesoamerica: Time, labor and knowledge

Journal of Social Archaeology, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Bodies Moving in Space: Ancient Mesoamerican Human Sculpture and Embodiment

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Having and Holding: Storage, Memory, Knowledge, and Social Relations

American Anthropologist, 2000

Books by Julia Hendon

Research paper thumbnail of Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice (2004)

Research paper thumbnail of Material Relations: The Marriage Figurines of Prehispanic Honduras

Focusing on marriage figurines—double human figurines that represent relations formed through soc... more Focusing on marriage figurines—double human figurines that represent relations formed through social alliances—Hendon, Joyce, and Lopiparo examine the material relations created in Honduras between AD 500 and 1000, a period of time when a network of social houses linked settlements of a variety of sizes in the region. The authors analyze these small, seemingly insignificant artifacts using the theory of materiality to understand broader social processes.

They examine the production, use, and disposal of marriage figurines from six sites—Campo Dos, Cerro Palenque, Copán, Currusté, Tenampua, and Travesia—and explore their role in rituals and ceremonies, as well as in the forming of social bonds and the celebration of relationships among communities. They find evidence of historical traditions reproduced over generations through material media in social relations among individuals, families, and communities, as well as social differences within this network of connected yet independent settlements.

Material Relations provides a new and dynamic understanding of how social houses functioned via networks of production and reciprocal exchange of material objects and will be of interest to Mesoamerican archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians.

Research paper thumbnail of The Materiality of Everyday Life

This volume explores the analytical productivity of the convergence of two bodies of theory: mate... more This volume explores the analytical productivity of the convergence of two bodies of theory: materiality, defined here as the mutually constitutive relationships between people and the material world, and everyday life, conceived of as the ordinary practices that comprise most of human existence. An engagement with materiality and everyday life reveals three interventions critical to archaeological research. First, archaeological studies of the somewhat ethereal concept of materiality benefit from a grounding in the context of material engagements in everyday life. Second, the seemingly mundane and ordinary material practices of everyday life are of crucial significance for society in such varied arenas as politics, commerce, and cosmology. Third, the study of the materiality of everyday life necessarily implicates fruitful attention to multiple social and temporal scales.

DOI: 10.1111/apaa.12057

Research paper thumbnail of Heterarchy, History, and Material Reality:  ‘Communities’ in Late Classic Honduras (2000)

Research paper thumbnail of The Society for American Archaeology's Committee on the Status of Women: a Progress Report for 1991-1993

Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Production as Social Process

Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, 2007

The different ways that the authors of the chapters in this volume have reconsidered production s... more The different ways that the authors of the chapters in this volume have reconsidered production serve as examples of the application of theories of production and practice to specific bodies of archaeological data. Two themes that inform many of the chapters are considered in greater depth in this commentary. The first is the question of scale and the social subject. It is argued that the authors have attempted, within the limits of their data, to demonstrate what may be learned through consideration of particular social subjects in particular social settings, paying close attention to how what is produced, where, and by whom create possibilities for social identity. The second theme is the role of ideology and the construction of moral frameworks of value. All the chapters emphasize ideological or symbolic aspects of production that allow the authors to consider the relationship between production and social difference. It is concluded that approaching production as socially embedded action should spark new ideas or directions for research on the part of authors and readers alike.

Research paper thumbnail of ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE ORGANIZATION OF DOMESTIC LABOR: Household Practice and Domestic Relations

Annual Review of Anthropology, 1996

... This review summarizes issues raised by economic and feminist anthro-pologists about the mean... more ... This review summarizes issues raised by economic and feminist anthro-pologists about the meaning of the terms household and domestic and then considers research on householdarchaeology, craft specialization, and gender relevant to the study of the organization of ...

Research paper thumbnail of On Access to Anthropological Literature

Current Anthropology, 1992

Research paper thumbnail of Feasting at Home

While there is a considerable amount of information available relating to feasting in small-scale... more While there is a considerable amount of information available relating to feasting in small-scale societies lacking permanent institutions of political authority (e.g., Kahn 1986; Kan 1989; Young 1971), and on how feasting could lead to the development of these institutions (Clark and Blake 1994; Hayden 1996), relatively few studies have focused on the role of feasting in complex societies whose members potentially had more varied options for signaling social status and prestige. In this paper, I examine archaeological evidence from the Late to Terminal Classic period Maya settlement in the Copan valley, Honduras (Figure 8.1) to determine how feasting may have figured in the politics of complex societies in Mesoamerica. I begin with a discussion of what is known of Mesoamerican feasting practices based on the ethnohistoric documentation, including the sixteenth-century writings on the Maya of Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan (Tozzer 1941; see Restall and Chuchiak 2002), and the sixteenth-century compilation of information on Aztec culture known as the Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1953-1982). I then move to a consideration of the ceramic and architectural data recovered from several elite patio groups in the Copan valley. After assessing vessel functions and reviewing the Copan assemblage’s functional groupings, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the spatial distribution of these groupings in the elite compounds as they

Research paper thumbnail of Textile production as craft in Mesoamerica: Time, labor and knowledge

Journal of Social Archaeology, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Bodies Moving in Space: Ancient Mesoamerican Human Sculpture and Embodiment

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Having and Holding: Storage, Memory, Knowledge, and Social Relations

American Anthropologist, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice (2004)

Research paper thumbnail of Material Relations: The Marriage Figurines of Prehispanic Honduras

Focusing on marriage figurines—double human figurines that represent relations formed through soc... more Focusing on marriage figurines—double human figurines that represent relations formed through social alliances—Hendon, Joyce, and Lopiparo examine the material relations created in Honduras between AD 500 and 1000, a period of time when a network of social houses linked settlements of a variety of sizes in the region. The authors analyze these small, seemingly insignificant artifacts using the theory of materiality to understand broader social processes.

They examine the production, use, and disposal of marriage figurines from six sites—Campo Dos, Cerro Palenque, Copán, Currusté, Tenampua, and Travesia—and explore their role in rituals and ceremonies, as well as in the forming of social bonds and the celebration of relationships among communities. They find evidence of historical traditions reproduced over generations through material media in social relations among individuals, families, and communities, as well as social differences within this network of connected yet independent settlements.

Material Relations provides a new and dynamic understanding of how social houses functioned via networks of production and reciprocal exchange of material objects and will be of interest to Mesoamerican archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians.

Research paper thumbnail of The Materiality of Everyday Life

This volume explores the analytical productivity of the convergence of two bodies of theory: mate... more This volume explores the analytical productivity of the convergence of two bodies of theory: materiality, defined here as the mutually constitutive relationships between people and the material world, and everyday life, conceived of as the ordinary practices that comprise most of human existence. An engagement with materiality and everyday life reveals three interventions critical to archaeological research. First, archaeological studies of the somewhat ethereal concept of materiality benefit from a grounding in the context of material engagements in everyday life. Second, the seemingly mundane and ordinary material practices of everyday life are of crucial significance for society in such varied arenas as politics, commerce, and cosmology. Third, the study of the materiality of everyday life necessarily implicates fruitful attention to multiple social and temporal scales.

DOI: 10.1111/apaa.12057