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7
Rethinking Polity Formation: A Gendered
Perspective on Formative Period Household
Development in the Pacific Coast
Region of Guatemala
Ana S. Tejeda
Northwestern University

ABSTRACT
Social complexity and polity formation involve volatile periods of political cycling with integration and decentral-
ization occurring as elites vie for political power. Political economic interpretations, while valuable in understanding
the social and political processes involved in polity formation, do not adequately trace changes in the social relations
that comprise the formation of a polity. In this chapter, I examine three models (subsistence intensification, craft
production, and exchange) that have been proposed to explain the political and economic development of the Pacific
coast region of Guatemala during the Middle Formative period (ca. 900–600 B.C.E.) and the rise of the La Blanca
polity. I contend that macroscale models obscure gendered interpretations of the past. I suggest that investigations
of prehistoric gender patterns would benefit from a microscaled approach drawing attention to household activities
and the diverse social and economic accommodations that must have been made by Middle Formative households.
The La Blanca inhabitants may have responded to the changing political landscape by altering their daily rounds
and by increasing coordination of household activities that affected all members of the household regardless of
gender.
Keywords: gender, polity formation, social complexity, Mesoamerica

T he Formative period (ca. 1650 B.C.E.–C.E. 100) in

Mesoamerica is characterized by political and economic
processes that led to the development of early social and
political complexity (Blake 1991; Clark 1991b; Demarest
1989; Fowler 1991; Pye and Demarest 1991). The Pacific
coast of Mesoamerica has served as a case study for ex-
amining the emergence of social complexity and polity for-
mation. Sites along the Pacific coast dating to the Early
Formative display evidence of early ranked societies with
two-tiered settlement hierarchies, intensification of agricul-
ture, long-distance trade networks, and craft specialization
(Clark 1991a, 1991b, 1994; Clark and Blake 1994; Coe and
Flannery 1967). By the Middle Formative, at approximately
900 B.C.E., La Blanca emerged as a regional polity and func-
tioned as a ceremonial center. Evidence of civic architec-
ture, intensified agricultural production, and long-distance
exchange has been identified at the site (Love 1990, 1991,
1999a, 1999b, 2002b). As La Blanca was transformed into a
regional polity, household composition altered to meet polit-
ical and economic demands. Household members must have
negotiated differences of power as new forms of household
social inequality appeared.
In this chapter I examine three macroscale political eco-
nomic models that have been proposed to explain the politi-
cal and economic development of the Pacific coast region of
Guatemala during the Middle Formative period and the rise

ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Vol. 18, Issue 1, pp. 87–101, ISSN 1551-823X,
online ISSN 1551-8248. 
C 2008 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-8248.2008.00007.x.

88
of the La Blanca polity. The models are (1) subsistence in-
tensification, (2) craft production, and (3) exchange. These
macroscale political economic models are beneficial in that
they allow us to focus on the trajectory of long-term cultural
change. However, this broad-scale approach obscures gender
and social practice while emphasizing hierarchical shifts in
power and elite control. A complementary approach would
be a microscale analysis that would focus on the social prac-
tices of the La Blanca inhabitants to reveal the complexities
of individual household strategies while emphasizing gen-
der and class (Brumfiel 1992). My objective is to consider
how the daily social practices of the La Blanca inhabitants
were transformed by changes in the broader social system
during the Middle Formative.
To enrich the current interpretation of polity formation
at La Blanca, I suggest that we question and investigate
gender patterns at the household level as a method for high-
lighting the diverse social and economic strategies employed
by Middle Formative households. A gendered perspective
on household archaeology enables us to explore polity for-
mation and the social relationships that underlie political
organization and dismantles fundamental assumptions of
gendered divisions of labor implicit in notions of the public
and private domains (Allison 1999; Carter 1984; Hendon
1996, 2004; Marti 1993; Pyburn 2004).
Polity Formation at La Blanca
Polity formation involves volatile periods of political
cycling with integration and decentralization as local elites
vie for political power. Elites use productive capabilities
and exotic goods to maintain political and economic control
(Blake and Clark 1999; Earle 1991; Gilman 1991; Johnson
and Earle 1988; Kristiansen 1991) and social solidarity is
maintained through public rituals (Clark 2004b; Earle 1997;
Fox 1996; Love 1999b; Mann 1986; Marcus 1989). Elites
negotiate political, economic, and ideological power to inte-
grate distinct societies, promote social cohesion, and demar-
cate their territorial boundaries (Clark 1991b; Earle 1997;
Feinman 1995; Mann 1986).
The site of La Blanca, located on the Pacific coast
of Guatemala (Figure 7.1), is one of the largest sites in
Mesoamerica from the Middle Formative period (ca. 900–
600 B.C.E.). At its apogee, it controlled a polity estimated
at three hundred square kilometers and covered an area
of approximately one hundred hectares with more than
60 households and was a ceremonial center (Love 1999a,
1999b, 2002b). Local inhabitants constructed a monumen-
tal earthen mound (Mound 1) that measured 25 meters
in height and approximately 140 meters by 120 meters
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Ana S. Tejeda
at the base (Love 2002b). Political development of the La
Blanca polity occurred during the Middle Formative period.
The political organization became centralized, population
densities increased, regional settlement patterns changed
to reflect a system of social stratification, and a two-class
system of elites and nonelites developed (Love 1999a,
2002b).
Prior to the rise of Middle Formative La Blanca, the
neighboring Mazatán region of coastal Chiapas was home
to the earliest regional polity during the Early Formative
period (ca. 1650–900 B.C.E.) (Clark 1991b). Mazatán set-
tlement patterns indicate that villages were nucleated, and
social ranking and economic specialization existed (Blake
1991; Blake and Feddema 1991; Ceja Tenorio 1985; Clark
1981, 1994; Clark and Lee 1984; Lesure 1995). However,
by the Middle Formative period (ca. 900 B.C.E.), population
densities had declined in the Mazatán region. In contrast,
population density increased in the region of La Blanca and
a three-tiered settlement hierarchy emerged. It has been pos-
tulated that inhabitants from the Mazatán region migrated
east to the La Blanca region as a result of unstable polities
vying for power (Clark and Blake 1994). The decline of the
Mazatán region coincides with the expansion of La Blanca
as a regional polity with new forms of social inequality
between households (Love 2002b). The political integration
and dominance of La Blanca lasted approximately 300 years,
and by 600 B.C.E. the site had declined in size and the polity
disintegrated.
A linchpin for establishing political and economic con-
trol is the ability of emerging elites to intensify subsistence
production to finance the political economy and to con-
trol the economic sector (D’Altroy and Earle 1985; Earle
1997). Love (1999a:98) argues that change in social relations
contributed to economic transformations during Middle For-
mative La Blanca. These changes are manifested archaeo-
logically at the household level, as evidenced by subsis-
tence intensification and intensification of craft production.
Differences in household wealth indicate that households
employed varying strategies that enabled some to main-
tain differential access to foreign goods such as jade and
mica through extensive exchange networks (Love 1999a,
1999b, 2002b). Interhousehold alliance and competition
for status and power were the impetus for the growth of
a surplus-producing economy. Feminist researchers have
demonstrated that it is precisely at the household level that
the study change in household composition and subsistence
and craft intensification facilitates our understanding of the
political and social processes involved in political devel-
opment (Brumfiel 1991; Conkey and Spector 1984; Costin
1993; Crown and Fish 1996; Hastorf 1991; Hendon 2004;
Pyburn 2004; Robin 2006; Tringham 1991).

Formative Period Household Development in Guatemala
Figure 7.1. Map of Soconusco region showing the location of La Blanca.
Subsistence Intensification
La Blanca is situated on the coastal plain of the south-
ern Pacific coast of Guatemala. The coastal plain gradu-
ally rises to the piedmont to an elevation of nine hundred
meters within a distance of less than 20 kilometers (Love
2002b). Rivers and streams flow directly from the pied-
mont to the Pacific Ocean. Smaller streams create shal-
low estuaries and lagoons on the coastal plain that con-
tinually receive sediments from small rivers, tidal currents,
and storms. As a result of volcanic activity, materials of
volcanic origin are deposited into the soil, resulting in ex-
tremely fertile and productive soils. Rainfall on the south-
ern coast averages three thousand millimeters per year,
with 90 percent of the annual rainfall occurring within the
six-month rainy season. The natural environment of the re-
gion enabled Early Formative inhabitants to employ diverse
subsistence strategies that included hunting, fishing, and
limited maize production. However, subsistence practices
underwent significant changes as a result of political restruc-
turing and integration during the Middle Formative period
(Love 2002b).
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89
Excavated materials at La Blanca reveal two important
changes in Middle Formative subsistence patterns. Inhab-
itants of La Blanca increased their exploitation of domes-
ticated dog as a source of protein and increased their pro-
duction and consumption of maize (Wake and Harrington
2002). Changing patterns of animal exploitation were re-
vealed by the number of identified specimens present (NISP)
and minimum number of individuals (MNI) for each species
collected. Dog (Canis familiaris), deer (Odocoileus virgini-
anus), and turtle (Chrysemys picta) were the most abundant
species by NISP, MNI (Figure 7.2), and weight (Figure 7.3).
The faunal data collected from domestic contexts such as
house floors and sealed midden deposits suggest that the
most significant change in subsistence practices occurred in
the rate of consumption of dog during the Middle Formative
period. The use of dog as a dietary protein is inferred by the
percentage of burned and fractured bones and the presence
of main skeletal portions, not through evidence of butcher
marks (Wake and Harrington 2002). During this period, the
percentage of dog in the diet fluctuated, with the highest
percentage occurring between 800 B.C.E. and 750 B.C.E. In
the Conchas A phase (900–800 B.C.E.), dog only represented
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90 Ana S. Tejeda

Figure 7.2. Comparative vertebrate data from three sites from four phases.

Figure 7.3. Weights of faunal materials recovered from household excavations at La Blanca.

three percent of the diet. However, by the Conchas B phase
(800–750 B.C.E.), dog consumption increased to 26 percent.
This was followed by a slight decline in the Conchas C
phase (750–700 B.C.E.) to 22 percent. By the Conchas D
phase (700–600 B.C.E.), the presence of dog declined by
approximately half, to only 12 percent.
Love (1999a:96) argues that the increased use of dog as
a source of protein reflects a strategy of minimizing labor
investment in the procurement of protein and an increase in
efficiency by allocating labor to other domestic activities.
This shift from wild resources to domestic animals implies
an increase in food production. I suggest that dog may have
been favored for intensification because dogs served as mul-
tipurpose animals whose function changed throughout their
lives. Dogs may have functioned as work animals, pets, rit-
ual sacrifices, and food resources (see Kanne 2005 for de-
tailed discussion). Dogs were most likely positioned around
dwellings and used as watchdogs to protect property and rid
the residential areas of human waste. As a food resource
they could be harvested as needed with limited effort (Love
2002b:244).
Stable carbon isotope measures from human bone sam-
ples from the Soconusco region of the Pacific coast provide
another view of Formative diet. Blake et al. (1992) exam-
ined human bone samples from three adjacent zones within
the Soconusco region: Acapetahua, Mazatán, and the lower

Formative Period Household Development in Guatemala
Rı́o Naranjo. Twenty-nine bone collagen samples from 13
different archaeological sites were analyzed; the samples
encompassed the time span from the Late Archaic to the
Late Postclassic (see Chisholm et al. 1993). To control for
higher δ 13 C values that may have resulted from the con-
sumption of marine resources, stable nitrogen isotope ratios
(expressed as δ 15 N) were examined. Of the 29 samples,
eight were analyzed for δ 15 N values (Table 7.1), and none of
these displayed nitrogen-enriched levels of marine-species
consumers (Blake et al. 1992:86).
The 13 C/12 C ratios for Early Formative Soconusco (ex-
pressed as δ 13 C values in parts per thousand []) were rela-
tively low, being between –22.4 and –16.9 with a mean
value of –19.6. This indicates that subsistence practices of
Early Formative inhabitants of the Mazatán region yielded a
mixed diet of brackish/freshwater swamp (mojarra) and es-
tuary species (catfish, turtle, iguana, and snake), terrestrial
animals (white-tailed deer and dog), and limited amounts of
C4 plants such as maize (Blake et al. 1992:89).
In contrast, bone collagen from Middle Formative La
Blanca suggests a shift in dietary patterns to one emphasiz-
ing C4 plants (directly and indirectly). The 13 C/12 C ratios
were relatively high, being between –13.3 and –10.8
with a mean value of –12.5 (Blake et al. 1992:90). The
recorded values are within the expected range for consumers
of C4 or CAM plants but low in comparison to δ 13 C values
for other parts of Mesoamerica (Tehuacán Valley and Oax-
aca) (Blake et al. 1992:91). These values establish a dietary
shift from the Early Formative mixed diet to one consisting
primarily of C4 plants such as maize in Middle Formative
La Blanca (Love 1999a, 2002b). This shift coincides with
the rise of La Blanca as a regional polity. Agricultural in-
tensification may have been prompted by emerging elites
who encouraged the increased production of agricultural re-
sources in order to produce food surpluses that served as the
economic base of the polity’s formation (Clark and Blake
1994; D’Altroy and Earle 1985; Earle 1997).
A multigendered perspective enriches this macroscale
view of subsistence practices at Middle Formative La
Blanca. Abundant documentation from ethnographic and
household studies suggests that differences in spatial pat-
terning of artifacts in or near the domestic structures and
differences in diet provide information concerning gen-
der social relations, which is visible in the archaeological
record (Cohen and Bennett 1993; Conkey and Spector 1984;
Hastorf 1991; Hendon 1996). A gendered approach asks,
How did subsistence intensification alter gendered house-
hold activities? Changes in subsistence practices, such as the
intensification of the use of dog and an increased reliance
on agricultural production, would have generated changes
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91
in daily household activities. This shift may have created
changes in the use of space and activity areas surround-
ing household settlement areas (Hendon 1996; Hodder and
Orton 1976; Robin 2004; Voorhies 1996).
During the Early Formative, the diverse nature of sub-
sistence practices may have required cooperative hunting
and fishing strategies by household members. Both men and
women would have participated in daily subsistence activ-
ities. However, given the spatial dispersion of household
settlements during this period, household members would
have had less frequent contact with other households. This
pattern changed during the Middle Formative period when
household settlements became more nucleated. Although
projecting ethnographic practices into the past is problem-
atic, numerous ethnographic studies and archaeological ev-
idence of subsistence practices reveal that both men and
women engage in food collection to secure subsistence for
themselves, their children, and other members of the group
(Nelson 1997). Given the multiple lines of archaeological
evidence—the small-scale nature of settlement patterns in
the Early Formative and the location of the estuaries in re-
lation to settlement areas—it can be postulated that estuary
food harvesting (such as turtles, birds, and fish) was con-
ducted by either men or women as a means of cooperative
distribution of household activities.
During the Middle Formative, household clusters (see
Winter 1976) would have changed to include garden plots
with open spaces where agricultural production and animal
tending would have occurred. Houses, situated on elevated
earthen mounds, facilitated a view of the surrounding res-
idential area. These changes may have fostered greater pe-
riods of time during which household members could have
interacted and cooperated. While performing daily house-
hold activities, household members would have had greater
visible access to one another for longer periods. This may
have facilitated a more cooperative approach to the under-
taking of daily activities that involved household members
of all genders and ages.
Furthermore, surplus agricultural production was made
possible at La Blanca by the fertile soils of the Pacific coast,
the short growing cycles that allowed for multiple crops
of maize to be harvested during the year, and the labor
input of household members (Love 1999a:95). As subsis-
tence practices changed during the Middle Formative to a
resource base with a higher potential for surplus production,
some households would have been more successful than
others in generating larger surpluses (Sahlins 1972). This
would have enabled some household members to engage
in nonsubsistence-related activities such as craft production
(Earle 1997; Feinman 1991).
 92

Table 7.1. Stable carbon and stable nitrogen values of human bone collagen samples by period or phase

Carbon/
Period/Phase Zone Site Burial No. Provenience δ 13 C Value Nitrogen Ratio δ 15 N Value Reference
Early Formative
Barra (1550–1350 B.C.E.) Mazatán Paso de la Amada Mound 5, pit 18 −18.7 5.5 Ceja Tenorio 1985
Mazatán San Carlos 1 Pit 2, level 42 −20.5 8.1 Clark et al. 1987
Lacona (1350–1250 B.C.E.) Mazatán Chilo 0.083 Pit 2, ext SE −17.4 6.7 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Chilo 2 Pit 2A, level 2 −18.7 9.3 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Chilo 1 Pit 1, level 7 −16.9 4.5 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Chilo 3 Pit 2, level 7 −21.8 4.6 Clark et al. 1987
Ocos (1250–1150 B.C.E.) Mazatán Aquiles Serdan Pit 3, level 3 −19.6 5.8 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Paso de la Amada 3 Mound 3, pit 6, level 6 −18.4 6.3 Ceja Tenorio 1985
Mazatán Paso de la Amada 1 Mound 1, pit 4, level 7 −19.2 5.5 Ceja Tenorio 1985
Mazatán Paso de la Amada 4 Mound 1, pit 7, level 7 −18.7 6.4 Ceja Tenorio 1985
Cherla (1150–1000 B.C.E.) Mazatán Aquiles Serdan Trench 1K, level 13 −18.2 5.4 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Paso de la Amada 2 Pit 5, level 4 −21.5 3.3 Ceja Tenorio 1985
Cuadros (1000–900 B.C.E.) Mazatán Villo 1 Station 2 −20.2 5.9 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Aquiles Serdan Pit 1A, level 5 −22.4 23.9 Clark et al. 1987
Mazatán Aquiles Serdan 1 Trench 1E, level 8 −21.2 11 Clark et al. 1987
Middle Formative
Conchas A–C (850–750 B.C.E.) Naranjo La Blanca 5 Op. 27, sub 2, F39 −10.8 3.2 9.3 Love 1989
Naranjo La Blanca 4 Op. 27, sub 2, 230 cm −13.3 3.2 8.8 Love 1989
Naranjo La Blanca 2 Op. 26, sub 5, 225 cm −13.3 3.3 Love 1989
Naranjo La Blanca Op. 26, sub 5, 170 cm −20.8 4.7 Love 1989
Mazatán Huanacastal 1 Pit 1, bottom −21.2 3.6 Clark et al. 1987
Late Formative (650 B.C.E.–C.E. 100)
Mazatán Altamira 3 Mound 6, pit A, level 17 −24.5 16.3 Green and Lowe 1967
Mazatán Altamira 2 Mound 6, pit A, level 16 −20.4 5 Green and Lowe 1967
Source: Adopted and modified from Blake et al. 1992.
Ana S. Tejeda

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Formative Period Household Development in Guatemala
Craft Production
Political development necessitates labor intensification
to increase subsistence production, to sponsor public works
as evidenced in monumental construction, and to produce
material goods (Brumfiel and Earle 1987; Clark 2004a;
Clark and Blake 1994; Earle 1997; Kristiansen 1991).
Emerging elites competing for political power and prestige
effectively mobilized a labor force in order to increase sur-
plus production. This increase was initiated at the household
level, where individuals or groups intensified their house-
hold production by increasing their household size (Sahlins
1972). In this model, households are perceived as flexible
and adaptive units that change their size, composition, and
labor allocation to meet the production and redistributive
needs of the household members and the larger social unit
(Sahlins 1972; Santley and Hirth 1993). Thus, polity for-
mation should be accompanied by changes in household
composition and labor intensification, archaeologically ob-
servable in spatial patterning of settlements, household clus-
ters, and activity areas. Additionally, changes in the material
culture should also reflect an increase in labor intensifica-
tion.
Middle Formative La Blanca is characterized by
changes in ceramic wares, vessel forms, and decorative mo-
tifs. Fine-paste ceramic wares (including Ramirez White,
Ramirez Black, and Margarita Fine Red-on-White) became
incorporated into the ceramic repertoire during this pe-
riod. Many of these were decorated with fine-line incisions
and diverse anthropomorphic representations that were re-
stricted to fine-paste wares. These design elements include
profiles of anthropomorphic beings, cleft-headed represen-
tations known frequently as “were-jaguars,” and star mo-
tifs (Love 1991, 2002a, 2002b). New vessel forms included
plates, grater bowls, vases believed to be drinking cups, and
cups with bulbous bases (Love 2002b:146). Given the in-
creased labor investment in processing the clay and temper
and the incorporation of fine-line decorative motifs, it has
been suggested that these fine-paste ceramics represent lux-
ury goods of high value (Clark 1991a; Love 1991, 2002b;
Peregrine 1991; Schortman and Urban 1994; Stark 2003).
Moreover, these fine-paste wares were restricted to elite do-
mestic contexts, suggesting that elites participated more fre-
quently in feasting and various ritual activities. I suggest
that changes in vessel forms, from coarse ware to fine paste,
elaborately decorated serving vessels such as plates, bowls,
vases, and cups, represent a shift in the social importance
of public feasting and ritual ceremonies. The motifs repre-
sented on the vessels may have been used by elites to claim
a religious and ideological connection to distant locations
that further served to legitimize their authority and social
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93
status (Helms 1979; Peregrine 1991). The increased use of
decorated fine-paste serving vessels by a limited subset of
elite households suggests that households employed various
strategies that accelerated the social differentiation between
elites and commoners. These wares may have accorded so-
cial prestige not only to the elite members of the society but
also to the crafters and their households. The intensification
of public feasting and ritual ceremonies by local elites not
only served to transform social relationships between elites
and nonelites but also altered the production of crafts at the
household level.
The need for intensified production and changes in ce-
ramic forms and styles would have required a greater invest-
ment of time in their production, resulting in the reallocation
of time and resources for all household members. More-
over, social relationships between household members may
have changed as the symbolic value of this task increased
(Brumfiel 1987; Hendon 1996). Avoiding the precarious
practice of attributing gender to specific artifacts, we can
reasonably discuss how the intensification of labor via the
production of ceramic wares would have altered household
activities. Chemical composition data reveal information
about the localization of pottery production.
Chemical composition data indicate that Conchas phase
ceramics were locally produced. Paste samples (n = 373)
were analyzed using laser ablation–inductively coupled
plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and chemical
signatures reveal that ancient potters obtained their raw ma-
terials from a source local to the La Blanca region (Tejeda
2004, 2005, 2007a, 2007b) (Figure 7.4). The probability sur-
face map shows that clays with peak probabilities of mem-
bership in the La Blanca core group are available in the im-
mediate area of La Blanca. These results are consistent with
those of ethnoarchaeological studies of modern-day potters
that reveal that potters will travel no farther than seven kilo-
meters to obtain the necessary raw materials for the produc-
tion of their crafts (Arnold et al. 1991). Although the scale
of ceramic production at La Blanca is currently unknown, it
is reasonable to argue that the acquisition of raw materials
for the production of ceramics and the acquisition of the fuel
required to fire the ceramics would have required a coop-
erative effort that involved household members regardless
of gender. For instance, the acquisition of raw materials for
the production of ceramic wares may have been combined
with other activities in order to increase levels of efficiency.
Open firing of ceramic wares was most likely carried out,
and the fuel used may have included wood, brush, branches,
and agricultural by-products (Rice 1987) that could have
been gathered while attending to other activities. Household
activities would have varied spatially according to the loca-
tion of necessary resources and the technology required in
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94 Ana S. Tejeda

Figure 7.4. Map showing probable source zone for La Blanca potters based on rare-
earth element concentrations determined by LA-ICP-MS of raw clays. Axis coordinates
are UTM coordinates in meters; distance between ticks is 10 kilometers. Y-axis is oriented
to grid north. Dark grey areas denote those areas where clays have a higher probability
of membership in the La Blanca core group. Triangles designate the location of some
archaeological sites in the region.

achieving the task (Kent 1984), with open firing conducted
in the open areas adjacent to household settlements.
My argument for the possibility of combining subsis-
tence activities with ceramic production raises the question,
Is there evidence of craft specialization at Middle Forma-
tive La Blanca? Specialized production includes organiza-
tional parameters such as intensity, scale, context, concentra-
tion, and meaning (Costin 1991; Costin and Hagstrum 1995;
Costin and Wright 1998) that are fundamental for its iden-
tification in the archaeological record. The limited scope of
household excavations at La Blanca precludes discussion of
the intensity, scale, and concentration of specialized produc-
tion. This area of research merits further exploration. While
admittedly there is a dearth of information related to the
organization of production, I suggest that Middle Formative
crafters produced ceramics for consumption and distribution
above the basic household need (Clark 1995). The localized
production of fine-paste ceramics and their distribution in
elite households provide tantalizing albeit limited evidence
of product specialization. It is possible that La Blanca pot-
ters were part-time specialists who engaged in production
seasonally. The scenario is quite different when we consider
prismatic obsidian blades.
Exchange
The development and control of regional and interre-
gional exchange networks is another factor that has been
linked to the development of social complexity and polity
formation (Clark and Blake 1994; Flannery and Coe 1968;
Parsons and Price 1971; Santley 1984). This model posits
that elites derive political and economic power from the
control of exchange networks that give elites access to ex-
otic goods and rare commodities with prestige value (Blake
1991; Brumfiel and Earle 1987; Clark 1981, 1994; Clark and
Lee 1984; DeMarrais et al. 1996; Earle 1997; Helms 1979).
Differentiated access to exotic objects exacerbates levels of
social inequality between households (Clark 1987). Thus,
the increase in regional and interregional exchange networks
is synonymous with the formation of political complexity
and social inequality. The rise of the La Blanca regional
center was due in part to the ability of emerging elites to
monopolize and control the movement of goods in the re-
gion. On a local level, this involved control over the distribu-
tion of material goods from nonlocal sources. Long-distance
exchange is archaeologically visible at Middle Formative
La Blanca in the presence of obsidian prismatic blades.

Formative Period Household Development in Guatemala
Obsidian sourcing reveals two significant changes in pat-
terns of interaction on a regional and interregional level
(Jackson and Love 1991).
Jackson and Love (1991) examine the introduction of
prismatic obsidian blades to the tool assemblage of Middle
Formative La Blanca. Briefly, x-ray fluorescence data on ob-
sidian prismatic blades (n = 469) revealed that inhabitants of
La Blanca obtained their obsidian primarily from El Chayal
and Ixtepeque, located 195 kilometers and 275 kilometers
away, respectively. Prismatic blades from San Martı́n Jilote-
peque, 145 kilometers away, were introduced during the
Conchas C phase (750–700 B.C.E.). The paucity of evidence
of blade manufacturing at La Blanca leads the authors to
suggest that obsidian prismatic blades entered the economy
as a finished product and were not the result of local craft
specialists. However, the distribution of prismatic blades was
not restricted to elite households. Elsewhere, Love (1999a)
argues that the vast majority of prismatic blades show evi-
dence of retouch. This implies that households attempted to
regenerate exhausted blades rather than produce new ones.
He makes two suggestions: (1) the technology to produce
prismatic blades was restricted to craft specialists not resi-
dent at La Blanca and (2) prismatic blades were considered
high-value tools.
While these findings shed light on regional and interre-
gional interaction patterns during the Middle Formative at
La Blanca, they provide us with no information about the
daily practice of the social actors that either engaged in these
economic transactions or were the recipients of the prismatic
blades. A gendered approach would seek to augment the cur-
rent model by focusing on the household and foregrounding
the importance of the social relationships and daily practices
of human agents. Taking a microscale approach we can ask,
How were these blades distributed? Clark (1987) argues
that prismatic blades were distributed by chiefs as gifts in an
effort to maintain the social order. Building on Clark’s in-
terpretation of gift-giving, it is possible that emerging elites
at La Blanca used feasting to publicly distribute obsidian
prismatic blades from nonlocal sources both as a method for
maintaining the social order and as a means to engage in
face-to-face interactions with the nonelite inhabitants.
In addition, we can ask whether these prismatic blades
represent a capital investment on the part of emerging elites
to increase household productivity. If during the Middle
Formative elites used prismatic blades as a capital invest-
ment to increase the productivity of both elite and nonelite
households, then we can expect to see changes in the range
of household activities and activity areas between the Early
and Middle Formative periods. Some or all household mem-
bers would have had access to and used obsidian prismatic
blades for daily household activities. Men, women, and
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95
children may have carried prismatic blades with them as
they went about their daily chores and retouching of the
blade edge would have taken place on the spot of the given
activity.
Future Research
Providing a more nuanced understanding of the polit-
ical and social changes that transformed La Blanca into a
regional polity during the Middle Formative period will re-
quire more expansive horizontal household excavations at
Early and Middle Formative settlements. As household ex-
cavations continue to be carried out we can expect to see
more detailed accounts of how political competition trans-
formed household production and social relations of the La
Blanca inhabitants. Excavation of households in settlements
on the periphery of the La Blanca center will also enhance
our understanding of how polities integrate settlements on
the periphery and allow us to see whether levels of political
and economic control differ and whether household labor
intensification and spatial allocation varied across time and
space. This will highlight household variability, illuminate
the social processes that transformed a loosely organized
society into a dominant regional polity, and accentuate the
human actors that created, shaped, and transformed their
place within the broader social system.
Future research should also include an examination of
labor intensification and the control of craft production by
elites. To date, craft production locales have not been iden-
tified. This information would augment our current under-
standing of how elites controlled the production and distri-
bution of household ceramic production. Did elites sponsor
craft specialists? If so, who were the specialists? What was
the social position of craft specialists? How did their house-
holds operate? Research on questions such as these will
shed light on how household activities and the divisions of
labor changed over time. In addition, research on the design
motifs that emerged during the Middle Formative period
will help to determine how households were drawn into po-
litical participation during the height of political control.
Lastly, the spatial arrangement of the La Blanca settlement
would yield important information on the nature of house-
hold social relations and political domination. The spatial
arrangement of the polity will help us to determine whether
access to particular areas was limited to specific members of
the polity. For example, how did the construction of Mound
1, the monumental earthen mound, change everyday access
to space? Did household daily routines change as a result
of its construction? Were rituals conducted on or around the
mound?

96
Concluding Remarks
The transition from the Early to Middle Formative was
a period of social change at La Blanca that was characterized
by increased social stratification. In this chapter, I have reex-
amined the three models presented to explain the formation
of the La Blanca polity and have suggested a complemen-
tary approach that focuses on the importance of gender at
the household level.
The archaeological data obtained from household ex-
cavations at Middle Formative La Blanca support the sug-
gestion that regional polity formation required the inten-
sification of subsistence, craft production, and exchange. I
maintain that household production intensified specific tasks
including hunting, farming, animal domestication, and pot-
tery production, which required greater investments of time
and energy expenditure that were shared by all members of
the household regardless of gender and age. As workloads
increased, the spatial organization of the house clusters and
activity areas prompted more daily face-to-face social inter-
actions between members of the society. First, the increased
production and consumption of maize during the Middle
Formative period required all household members to work
longer and harder. Agricultural production would have re-
quired the reallocation of labor among all members of the
household. Second, an increase in the manufacture of spe-
cialized fine-paste ceramic wares may have altered the social
prestige that accrued not only to the elite members of the
society but also to the crafters and their households. Third,
differentiated household access to exotic and highly pro-
ductive tools may have reinforced differences among house-
holds. Different households may have managed productive
strategies and exchange networks in different ways, resulting
in archaeologically visible differences in household wealth
and power.
By examining the archaeological evidence from a gen-
dered household perspective, we complement rather than
replace the prevailing models that focus on the political
and economic processes involved in polity formation.
Archaeologists are in a unique position to observe the trajec-
tory of social and political changes in prehistoric societies
from a multiscalar approach (Hendon 2004). Focusing on the
macroscale processes of social and political changes alone
obscures the complexities of individual household strategies
and variability. Conversely, applying a microscale approach
without a political economic framework leaves us with a
just-so story that fails to elucidate the recursive relationship
of individual social actors and the broader social system. In
effect, it is the intersection of the political economy and daily
social practice of human agents that will enable us to bet-
ter understand the impact of political and social processes
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Ana S. Tejeda
that shaped and transformed the social milieu of Middle
Formative La Blanca.
I am not the first to examine household gender relations
during periods of emerging social and political complexity.
Crown and Fish (1996) apply a gendered perspective to their
research on the transition of Hohokam society during the
Preclassic and Classic periods in the American Southwest.
These researchers examined multiple lines of archaeologi-
cal evidence relevant to developing social hierarchies and
changes in women’s production and social status. They con-
clude that women’s workloads increased during the Classic
period and their social status was equivalent to that of their
male counterparts. The approach that I have presented in this
chapter departs from their perspective in two ways. First and
most notably, I am reluctant to equate gender with artifact
classes. Using a cross-cultural perspective of the division of
labor, Crown and Fish (1996:805) identify tasks performed
exclusively by women and apply these gendered activities to
the artifact assemblage. While this perspective offers an in-
terpretation that acknowledges women’s contribution to the
evolving Hohokam political economy, it does not consider
the complex negotiations and coordination that changes in
production would require of all household members. By en-
gendering household studies at La Blanca and avoiding at-
tributing gender to specific artifacts, I have sought to accen-
tuate the cooperative and competitive nature of households
during the Early and Middle Formative transition. Second,
I have chosen to focus my perspective on all household
members regardless of sex because I recognize that social
relations and roles are continuously shaped and reshaped by
social actors through their daily practices (Hendon 2004).
It is the daily practices of human agents and their social
relations that give meaning to the world around them. The
value of focusing on a gendered perspective without gen-
der attribution of household activities is that it challenges
unconscious assumptions about male and female roles in
society and foregrounds the dynamism and variability of so-
cial relations and interactions within and among household
members.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Elizabeth Brumfiel and Cynthia Robin
for organizing the gender archaeology course at Northwest-
ern University and for their insightful comments on earlier
versions of this work. I also extend thanks and gratitude to
Michael W. Love, whose pioneering research at La Blanca
provided the data and inspiration for this chapter. Finally,
many thanks to Robin Coleman Goldstein, Kristin De Lucia,
Alex Miller, Chris Morehart, Dawn Pankonien, and Theresa

Formative Period Household Development in Guatemala
Preston-Werner for lively weekly discussions from which
this chapter grew. I bear sole responsibility for any errors
and all interpretations in this chapter.
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