LECTURA DE RATHJE Y SCHIFFER

Every society has left a material record of its existence that is a product of the activities of the
majority of people, as well as of their leaders.
Like documents, this material record is also biased, but toward what people actually did rathcr
than what a few said or thought.
four dimensions of variabilitv in artifacts
FORMA
(FOMALIDAD)
Espacio (ESPA-
CILIDAD)
Frecuencia
FRECUANCIALIDAD
Relacion
RELACIONADLIAD
Atributos de diferen-
cia y similitud
Lugar del artefacto en
reas de actividad, en
reas habitacionales,
en la casa, la propie-
dad y mas all (rasgos
ambientales del
medio social y natu-
ral)
Numero de ocurren-
cia de un tipo particu-
lar de objetos
Descripcin de los
artefactos asociados
- Diferecniar el
uso de de dife-
rentes artefac-
tos juntos en
actividades
- Etc.


lf we were interested in the mass production of sinks, we would select a particular community
(spatial dimension) and describe artifacts in terms of material composition, the arrangement of
parts, and any mold or casting marks on the surface (formal dimension). If we were interested in
differences in the social standing of families, we would look at attributes such as the material out
of which the sink is made (formal dimension) and the number of sinks within houses (frequency
dimension). We would also want to know how sinks were used, and an examination of the plumb-
ing would give a general idea that sinks are used to control the flow of two fluids. As other arti-
facts associated with sinks-such as detergents, towels, and toothbrushes (relational dimension)-
were examined, more specific inferences would be made.
EFFECTOS DE LA FUNCIN (en sociedades)


(techno-function) (socio-function) (ideo-function)
extracting, processing, and
storing resources,
maintaining technology, and
fulfilling the biological needs
of people.


symbolically influence social
inter-
actions: uniforms and insignia
identify special roles, jewelry
communicates
social standing, and walls and
partitions divide up social
symbolize ideology: sacred
paraphernalia represent reli-
gious beliefs, bumper stickers
express opinions, and novels,
paintings, and
films present widely shared
views of reality



the distribution of chairs in a
house- their spatial dimen-
sion-is determined by the
activities performed in differ-
ent rooms.

space.

This variety can express the
range of social classes in our
so-
ciety.



Socio-function and ideo-
function also influence these
dimensions; for exam-
ple, the chair at the head of a
diriing-room table (spatial and
relational di-
mensions) denotes the social
role of head of household.

Because ir is often difficult to distinguish between socio-function and ideo-function, both are fre-
quently lumped under the heading stylistic vari- ability. Style is then one of two categories, with
utilit), (techno-function) the other. What attributes are utilitarian and what attributes are stylistic?
- The most basic source of stylistic variability in artifacts is the individual stylc of a craftsman
- Styles can also be used to identify groups (TENDENCIAS GENERAles no lINEarEs)
o Similarities in style are usually produced when artisans are trained in a particular
tradition that is passed on by personal contact from generation to generation
stylistic similarity varies directly with the amount of social interaction and
communication among craftsmen
o gravity model, which attempts to describe the amount of social interaction be-
tween two settlements
social interaction increases with increases in population of one or settle-
ments and decreases with the distance between them
in order to make accurate predictions about social interaction, variations
in transport and communication technology-as well as environment
- According to a third principlc, for any given type of hehavioral component, there is more
social interaction within units than between them

Modelo Sociolgico de Estilo:
Variabilidad estilstica se deja describir por: social interaccin, distancia, and behavioral compo-
nentes
number of expectations for the spatial distribution of stylistic variability and its relation to behav-
ioral components. Underlying the model is the idea that stylistic similarities should be high within
behavioral components where social interaction is frequent, and should decrease with distance
between behavioral components as social interaction falls off

FACTOERES DE DISTURBIO PARA ANALIZAR LA VARIABILIDAD (NO ES LINEAR LA RELACION ASI
QUE::
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
High levels of exogamy will create larger-than-expected style zones, areas of stylistic similarity, by
conI tinually shuffling artisans among the communities of a region. The main cause of exogamy is
community size: the smaller the community, the more often people marry out.
Immigrants bring with them material possessions and patterns of behavior from their former
communities.Other factors in the perseverance of immigrant styles are the attitudes and beliefs of
the newcomers. Retween these extremes one finds immigrant groups that maintain some hehav-
ior patterns while losing others. A further factor in maintaining ethnic distinctiveness is whether
immigrants continue contact with their home areas.
MOVEMENT OF GOODS
disturbances are caused by trade
the qnantities in ivhich some goods are distributed vary with the size of the markets and the
boundaries of regional systems, not with the distance over which goods must he moved hy indi-
viduals
MEANS OF PRODUCTION : Mass production also greatly affects style distributions. Whether iu the
place of manufacture or in areas where products are traded, mass production has the effect of
decreasing local variability in style.

EFFECT OF DEVELOPMENTAL CYCLES (ON VARIABILITY)
artifacts are made, used, and discarded
Adaptive systems, seen as combinations of entities-individuais, behavioral components and arti-
facts can also be regarded as passing through developmental cycles. Thus, to the utilitarian and
stylistic causes of variability in the material remains of adaptive systems we can add the influence
of developmental change.

INDIVIDO Behavioral
Components
Roles of
Artifacts
Themselves
main origins of variability in arti-
facts are sex, growth, and changes
in roles and social standing. Age, a
major source of variability, can be
divided into two components: bio-
logical development and social-
role development.

special paraphernalia for the new-
born

A large number of the artifacts
households,
task groups,
communities,
regional sys-
tems

First is the
behavioral
component's
stage in its
developmental
cycle, which is
Procurement takes place at
specialized activity areas
known as extraction loci

In studying procurement, one
of the first questions is: Where
did the
raw material originate?

Manufacture r preparation is
the next stage in the life cycle
of artifacts.
used by infants and adolescents,
especially models and toys, are a
part of the process of encultura-
tion, the learning of basic skills
needed to perform adult roles

Even within the most materially
impoverished societies,
children make toys, such as bows
and arrows, that are scaled-down
versions
of adult tools, used to mimic pro-
ductive activities.

While middle age is typified by the
acquisi-
tjon of artifacts, the rates de-
crease as those growing older
participate in
fewer activities.

Between the extremes of child-
hood and old age, adults usually
pass
through a series of social roles.
Variability in artifacts is influenced
by both
the specific physical tasks or tech-
no-functions and the social stand-
ing or
socio-functions of these roles. Ob-
viously, the more social roles in a
society,
the greater tbe proliferation of
utilitarian and stylistic variability in
artifacts.

SEX. Many artifact differences,
such as in clothing and the use of
cosmetics,
are for visual displays in social situ-
ations.

rites of passage and usually involve
a set of prescribed ritual objects.
- specific symbols of the
ceremony, most of which
are primarily ideo-
a product of
the compo-
nent's activi-
ties and the
age and sex of
the members
of the social
unit.

rate of growth
of the behav-
ioral compo-
nent; some
are stable
relative to
others, which
expand or
collapse rapid-
ly.

the wealth of
the compo-
nent, the so-
cial standing
of the social
unit, and
how often the
behavioral
component
moves its loca-
tion.

Households go
through de-
velopmental
cycles which
relate to stag-
es of
families.

settlements
full of ideo-
functional
artifacts sym-
bolizing power
and glory

Like procure ent, it takes
place in specialized activity
areas, usually in
ps larger settlements. Manu-
facture changes the physical
and/or chemical prop-
erties of raw materials. It is
during manufacture that sty-
listic and utilitarian
factors are combined into the
attributes of finished prod-
ucts.
Manufacturing tool kits are
sometimes found intact or in
association
with raw materials.

For many products, waste
occurs in abundance and fur-
nishes evidence
of manufacture.

USE
:::::TECNO_FUNCTION
Relationships between form
and function

Kinds of use modification:
- ROTURA: si no se
arregla indica norma-
lemnte el fin de la vida
util, si es que ha de ser
utiliyado para el mis-
mo trabajo
- DESGASTE

Information on use-wear and
the formal properties of arti-
facts are combined, strong
inferences about techno-
function can be made.

Many ohjects, particularly the
most common household ob-
jects, have
more than one techno-
function. This is known as
multiple use
functional
- many cerernonies include
items the individual will
use in his or her new role.
- many ceremonies include
the giving of gifts or other
transfers of artifacts be-
tween social units
- the area where the cere-
mony takes
- place may consist of spe-
cialized facilities and arti-
facts used extensively or
exclusively for that pur-
pose.


Multiple-use tools present
problems for archaeological
inference because of their
highly vari-
ahle patterns of wear and
associations.

When activities are carried out
by specialists, especially in
workshops, tool kits become
larger from the addition of
many specialized single-pur-
pose tools.

USE: SOCIOFUNCTION Y IDEOFUNCTION
separate utilitarian from stylistic characteristics and so identify the specific socio-functional and
ideo-functional uses of artifacts. The principie that guides these use studies is that once the utili-
tarian attributes have been identified, the remaining attributes are stylistic.

On the basis of the remaining stylistic attributes, hypotheses would be formulated about the par-
ticular socio-functions and ideo-functions of chairs, and tests would be conducted using infor-
mation on the other dimensions of variability-frequency, spatial, and relational.
In trying to identify differences in social standing within a society, archaeologists usually examine
differences in the socio-functional characteristics of dwellings and personal possessions. As a gen-
eral rule, the material markers of an upper class are rare objects that require for their manufac-
ture great quantities of labor and materials that are difficult to obtain.
TRANSPORT AND STORAGE
if procurement, manufacture, and use occur in different places, there has to be transport
if these stages occur at different times, there must be storage;
Storage structures occur in consumption centers, in procurement areas, at manufacture sites, and
at critica1 points along transportation routes. Tbese processes can occur anywhere in the life cy-
cle of commodities.


Developmental Cycles of Artifact Types
It is not only individual items that have life cycles, but also whole categories of artifacts.
LEY DE FRECUENCIA
Such types are usually defined by combinations of utilitarian and stylistic characteristics.
types of objects: (1) come into existence at a point in time, (2) gradually increase in popularity to
a peak, (3) then gradually decline until they are no longer produced.
The law, however, is not violated; when styles are revived they are not perfect copies.
----THE AGE-AREA HYPOTHESIS, states that as time passes, artifacts will follow patterns of social
interaction and will he distributed farther and farther from their source of manufacture. the
geographic spread of a type of item should he directly related to the time elapsed since it was first
manufactured (rates of spread differ from item to item, which lirnits the usefulness of the age-
area hypothesis)
Horizon markers are types of objects that spread rapidly and widely and cease to be produced just
as quickly, thereby constituting a "marker" for a sharply delineated period.
At the opposite extreme of a horizon style is the concept of a tradition, which refers to a basic
stability in the artifacts of a specific regional system. A long tradition presupposes gradual chang-
es in behavior and substantial continuity in the population of an area

UNIDADES DOMESTTICAS: (HOUSEHOLDS

Households go through developmental cycles which relate to stages of families. The first stage is
one of setting up housekeeping and acquiring basic necessities, usually including a dwelling. Many
of the setting-up artifacts are wedding gifts, dowries, and hand-me-downs. The second stage, child
raising, is ushered in by the arrival of children and child-care parapbernalia. By this time the
household may occupy a largrr dwelling to accommodate its greater number of activities and arti-
facts. The third stage, maturity, occurs when the children become adolescents. During maturity,
the household often achieves its peak iiicorne and wenlth, as the productive members of thc
household achieve their greatest social standing. The acquisition of artifacts contiiiues, with a
strong emphasis on sacio-functions. The final stage, old age, is often signaled by the formation of
independent households by the grown children. This produces a contraction in the activities of the
parents and a corresponding decrease in their need for artifacts. Households in this stage may
occupy mobile homes or condominiums. Although the techno-functional requirements decrease,
the socio- and ideo-functional reasons for artifacts, especially in the form of mementos, may
not.Differences in the emphasis on artifacts in this developmental cycle are created in a variety of
ways. Variations in social standingproduce enormous differences iu the artifacts among house-
holds. These differences are clearest in the socio-functional artifacts during all stages. Upper-class
households will, even in the setting-up phase, possess more items altogether and more items with
important socio-functions. Another factor creating variability is how frequentl~ the household
moves. The more often a household changes its place of residence, the fewer its possessions.
Thus, among hunters and gatherers who are constantly moving and who have few artifacts to
begin with, the changes from one stage to another may be almost imperceptible. In contrast, in
industrial states, there is a wide range of products designed especially for particular stages.
For various reasons, there are households in every society that do not raise children. These house-
holds go through stages that involve changes in social standing, income, and activities, but the
stages are much less dist ct. Small task groups and special-purpose households-such as dormitori
s7 nursing homes, and communes-are different from family households because their activities
do not change; in such behavioral components, the artifacts change less over time.






RESUMEN
Para comprender la relacin de los objetos con el comportamiento recurrimos a la arqueologa
que formaliz ms que cualquier otra disciplina el acceso a los remanentes materiales de la exis-
tencia humana. EN combinacin con las tcnicas y mtodos antropolgicos, entre ellos, la obser-
vacin participante, la descripcin etnogrfica, las entrevistas, notas de campo, fotografas etc.,
tratamos de dimensionar los objetos ubicados en los domicilios particulares..
QUE DIMENSIONES SON PREVALENTES EN EL MARCO DE LA PROBLEMTICA DEL DENGUE? Su
funcin? Su utilidad? Su valor simbolico? Etc

BUSQUEDA DE LA VARIABILIAD en los objetos y artefactos PARAN HADCER INFERENCIAS ACERCA
DEL COMPORTAMIENTO Y DE LOS DETERMINNATES SOCIO-CULTURALES
UTILIDAD (TECNOFUNCTION) VS ESTILO (SOCIO E IDIOFUNCION):::::VARIABILIDaD