Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology

423 Pages·1987·25.34 MB·English

by  Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood (auth.)

Consumer Choice
in Historical
Archaeology
Consumer Choice
in Historical
Archaeology
Edited by
SUZANNE M. SPENCER-WOOD
University of Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts
Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Consumer choice in historical archaeology.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. United States - Antiquities. 2. Archaeology and history - United States. 3. Con
sumers' preferences - United States -History - Sources. 1. Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.
EI59.5.C67 1987 930.1 87-2569
ISBN 978'1-4757-9819'7
ISBN 978-1-4757-9819-7 ISBN 978-1-4757-9817-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-9817-3
© 1987 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1987
Softcover reprint of the hardcover1 st edition 1987
AII rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, Illechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To my father, Willis Avery Wood,
and to the memory of my mother,
Alice Jane Spencer Wood
D
Contributors
Sherene Baugher 0 New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, 20
Vesey Street, 11th Floor, New York, New York
Mark C. Branstner 0 Department of Anthropology, Wayne State Univer
sity, Detroit, Michigan
Lynn Clark 0 Department of Anthropology, State University of New York,
Binghamton, New York
Constance A. Crosby 0 Department of Anthropology, University of Califor
nia, Berkeley, California
Lu Ann De Cunzo 0 CLIO Group, 3961 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia,
Pennsy Iv ania
Amy Friedlander 0 Louis Berger & Associates, 1819 H Street N.W., Wash
ington, D.C. 20006
Patrick H. Garrow [l Garrow & Associates, 4000 DeKalb Technology Park
way, Suite 375, Atlanta, Georgia
Paul M. Heberling 0 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Juniata
College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
Scott D. Heberling 0 Heberling Associates, Route 4, Box 20, Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania
Susan L. Henry 0 Heritage Resources Branch, Fairfax County Office of
Comprehensive Planning, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, Virginia
Cheryl A. Holt 0 Analytical Services for Archaeologists, 900 Cameron
Street, Alexandria, Virginia
Terry H. Klein 0 Louis Berger & Associates, 100 Halsted Street, East
Orange, New Jersey
Charles H. LeeDecker 0 Louis Berger & Associates, 1819 H Street N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20006
vii
viii Contributors
Mark P. Leone 0 Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland,
College Park, Maryland
TerranceJ. Martin 0 Anthropology Section, Illinois State Museum, Spring
field, Illinois
Kim A. McBride 0 Museum and Department of Anthropology, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan
w.
Stephen McBride 0 Museum and Department of Anthropology, Michi
gan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Charles E. Orser, Jr. 0 Department of Geography and Anthropology, Lou
isiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Elizabeth J. Reitz 0 Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia,
Athens, Georgia
Steven Judd Shephard 0 Alexandria Archaeology, Box 178, City Hall,
Alexandria, Virginia
David A. Singer 0 187 Thacher Street, Milton, Massachusetts
Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood 0 Department of Anthropology, University of
Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts
Robert W. Venables 0 American Indian Community House, 842 Broadway,
New York, New York
D
Foreword
Historical archaeology has made great strides during the last two decades.
Early archaeological reports were dominated by descriptions of features and
artifacts, while research on artifacts was concentrated on studies of topology,
technology, and chronology. Site reports from the 1960s and 1970s commonly
expressed faith in the potential artifacts had for aiding in the identifying
socioeconomic status differences and for understanding the relationships be
tween the social classes in terms of their material culture. An emphasis was
placed on the presence or absence of porcelain or teaware as an indication of
social status. These were typical features in site reports written just a few
years ago. During this same period, advances were being made in the study of
food bone as archaeologists moved away from bone counts to minimal animal
counts and then on to the costs of various cuts of meat.
Within the last five years our ability to address questions of the rela
tionship between material culture and socioeconomic status has greatly ex
panded. The essays in this volume present efforts toward measuring expendi
ture and consumption patterns represented by commonly recovered artifacts
and food bone. These patterns of consumption are examined in conjunction
with evidence from documentary sources that provide information on occupa
tions, wealth levels, and ethnic affiliations of those that did the consuming.
One of the refreshing aspects of these papers is that the authors are not afraid
of documents, and their use of them is not limited to a role of confirmation.
Despite what some have contended, historical archaeology is not in danger of
being bastardized by the use of documents. In reality, its full potential will not
be realized unless all resources are brought into play and are reflected against
each other, as they are in these papers.
The models and approaches offered here are efforts toward a fuller under
standing of the relationship between people and material culture, and repre
sent strides toward a fuller realization of the interpretive potential of archae
ology. They all represent approaches to the data that have been developed in
the last five years. Several of these models have great promise and potential as
tools for the interpretation of archaeological assemblages. Given the rate at
which our knowledge and sophistication is developing, it is clear that, in an
other five years, some of these approaches will probably seem simplistic and
naive. No doubt, in some cases, the models will be expanded and improved by
the authors who are presenting them in this volume. This is an exciting time
in historical archaeology because the boundaries of our knowledge are rapidly
expanding and we are beginning to deal with broad questions of the rela
tionship between people and their material culture.
ix
x Foreword
To some observers, it may seem that the development of historical archae
ology is slow because they focus on the distance to be covered rather than the
progress that has been made. This reminds me of the plea made by the English
potter Richard Champion when petitioning Parliament for the renewal of his
patent for making of hard-paste porcelain in 1774. His success in bringing
porcelain to production during the first patent was limited, and in stating his
case for renewal of the patent, he asked for Parliament to recognize his limited
success and to have faith in the potential of what he was undertaking. Cham
pion summed up his case as follows:
It is therefore presumed that the Legislature will distinguish between over-sanguine
Hopes, in Point of Time, of an Invention, which however has, at length Succeeded,
and those visionary Projects which deceive for ever. IWedgwood 1775:9)1
Some of the models presented in this volume will succeed in becoming impor
tant tools for the interpretation of artifact assemblages, whereas others will be
superceded by systems and approaches yet to be developed.
GEORGE L. MILLER
1 Wedgwood, Josiah, 1775, Papers Relative to Mr. Champion's Application to Parliament for the
Extension of the Term of a Patent, No publisher listed.
D
Preface
The challenge facing historical archaeologists is to contribute insights into the
past beyond those available from the historical record. The goal of this volume
is to explain household variations in historic consumer behavior through com
bined analyses of archaeological and documentary data. Comparing the differ
ent data available from documentary and archaeological sources provides
more information than can be gained from either source alone. The primary
hypothesis of this volume is that socioeconomic stratification significantly
affects certain consumer behaviors, involving choices to acquire, and later
archaeologically deposit, relatively expensive versus inexpensive goods. Such
consumer choices are inferred primarily from quantitatively measured pat
terns in archaeological data. Through comparative site analyses, household
variations in these patterns are explained through documented variations in
socioeconomic status and/or other factors affecting consumer behavior
This volume is not a haphazard collection of available research on a gener
al topic. It developed out of my research interests and the recent growth of
similar research in historical archaeology, facilitated by the development of
price scaling indices for ceramics and fauna. All chapters are concerned with
explaining consumer behavior, and were specifically written with the shared
framework of "consumer choice." This framework was developed to combine
the analysis of variables affecting the selective acquisition of goods with ar
chaeological models of selective discard. Chapters draw on theory, concepts
and research from economics, sociology, anthropology, and history to synthe
size cultural frameworks that relate patterns in archaeological data to eco
nomic, social, and political factors in consumer behavior. In the aggregate, the
chapters in this volume offer a comparative data base for assessing the condi
tions under which patterns of archaeologically deposited data were affected by
socioeconomic consumer behaviors, and/or other behaviors.
This volume and my research in it could not have reached successful
completion without the conscientious work, support, and enthusiasm of many
professional colleagues and individuals. I am grateful to a number of col
leagues both for their contributions to this volume and for assisting me in
developing my research so that I could contribute to and edit this volume.
While it is impossible to acknowledge individually all those who made this
volume possible, I would like to express my thanks here to those who made
unusual contributions to this effort.
The staff at Plenum Press have played a major part in the publication of
this volume. From my first contact, Eliot Werner, senior editor at Plenum,
encouraged and supported me in organizing and editing this volume. Eliot
xi