Abstract
Most residences excavated by historical archaeologists were occupied by several households. Consequently, the domestic landscape is a dynamic context that often reflects the occupational history of a former dwelling or houselot. Interestingly, major site events and landscape changes typically coincide with important junctures in the life history of households. Household succession, in which different residents occupy a dwelling, appears to be a significant transition that influences the domestic landscape. Shortly after inhabiting a residence, new occupants may expand a dwelling, move or raze extant outbuildings, alter fence lines, and change the location of refuse disposal areas. In turn, during excavation historical archaeologists are often confronted with a challenging array of features, deposits, and landscape modifications. In this paper, the influence of household succession upon landscape change is explored through consideration of several sites that collectively were occupied between the 17th and 20th centuries. The study sites illustrate that household succession is an important catalyst of landscape change. Consequently, the archaeological record at residences can be better contextualized and interpreted through the use of this concept.
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Groover, M.D. Household Succession as a Catalyst of Landscape Change. Hist Arch 38, 25–43 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376667
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376667