Abstract

The household is the basic unit of organization within any society and, as such, provides an appropriate point of departure for the study of prehistoric social and economic organization, including the development of social inequality. Variations in wealth and power within a community are frequently expressed in domestic architecture. Because houses are durable material symbols that can be continually expanded and elaborated, they are ideal for displaying social, economic and political divisions. Ongoing investigations at the site of Paso de la Amada, located near the Pacific Coast of southern Chiapas, Mexico, have produced an emerging picture of an Early Formative (1550-1150 BC) village in the incipient stages of developing social inequality. Six superimposed house floors have been excavated on Mound 6, the largest of several earthen mounds at the site. The houses represented by these floors were large structures built on a clay platform of monumental proportions. At least some of the houses appear to have been unique in the community, in terms of their form, size, and elaborateness, and they likely served as a visual display of the elevated status and power that their occupants held within the community.