Gender and Status in the Hohokam Pre‐Classic to Classic Transition

Reinterpreting chronology and society at the mortuary complex of Jebel Moya (Sudan)

“…Subsequent studies attempted to address this deficiency (Curet and Oliver 1998;McGuire 1992;Silverman and Small 2002) by branching out to examine issues of gender (Crown and Fish 1996), embodied landscape (Insoll 2004), the inter-relationship between the living and the ancestors (Helms 1998), and the integration of bioarchaeology and mortuary ceremonalism (Stodder 2005). All, however, recognise that periods of social unrest and requirements to delineate boundaries are also important factors in the potential for status to be reflected in mortuary complexes.…”

Craft economies in the north American Southwest

“…Nonetheless, I hypothesize that elite men and women (see Crown and Fish, 1996, for a discussion of elite Hohokam women) who oversaw community events, which were a domain of consumption, were able to monitor craft economies (Bayman, 1995(Bayman, , 1996a. In other words, since the demand (i.e., market) for these goods was fueled by their use in community-wide ceremonies, management of these venues of consumption offered elites an opportunity to intervene in these economies.…”

“…It is theoretically plausible, though difficult to verify conclusively, that these same institutions legitimized elite involvement in managing craft economies as well. Although further research is desperately needed, gender and status roles also were important elements of Classic-period Hohokam craft economies (Crown and Fish, 1996).…”

“…Unfortunately, results of this study (e.g., Wilcox, 1987) are equivocal due to its restricted sample size and its sole reliance on assemblages from platform-mound contexts. In a pathbreaking study of Classic-period Hohokam grave goods (Crown and Fish, 1996), differential distributions of spindle whorls, along with other items, provided arguable evidence of a gender hierarchy among women.…”

“…Studies of gender in the organization, deployment, and division of labor for craft economies are still in their infancy; and further illumination of this phenomenon offers a fertile avenue for new research (e.g., Crown and Fish, 1996;Crown and Wills, 1995a,b;Fratt, 1991;Graves, 1994;Hegrnon and Trevathan, 1997;Mills, 1995bMills, , 1997Spielmann, 1995Spielmann, , 1996Spielmann, , 1997. Dimensions of gender were inherent in a variety of institutional mechanisms (e.g., kinship, postmarital residence patterns, land tenure, etc.)…”