Study Guide, Anth 2263

Week 8

Reading 1: Loren (2003)

Keywords:
 Political identity - one kind of social identity that is defined here as an individual’s diplomatic,
economic, and political persona.
 Ethnohistoric - the study of past cultures through the examination of historical records (e.g.,
written texts) related to their lives and history.

Questions:
1. Why is dress (clothing) integral to understanding identity and embodied experiences in French
colonial Louisiana?
2. How were actual constructions of identity in Louisiana different from those conceptualized by
the colonial authority of the French Crown?
3. What voices are missing from painted images of colonists and colonized peoples produced
during the colonial period? Why is this problematic for interpreting identity?
4. What kinds/lines of evidence are studied in the paper and how do they inform our
understanding of identity in the past?
5. What is the significance of “items worn over clothing” found at the two archaeological sites
compared in the paper?
6. Reflection question: Who do you communicate a diplomatic/economic/political persona through
the clothing that you wear?

Reading 2: Joyce (2003)

Note: There is an error in this article. On page 253, the image shown for Figure 4 is not the image that
was intended by the author. The image that should be in its place would include images of four different
Playa-style figurines. The text underneath the figure is correct, the image is not.

Keywords:
 Playa de los Muertos (Beach of the Dead) - An archaeological site found in the country of
Honduras that is over 2000 years old. Encompasses a regional network of linked villages.
 Middle Formative - a time period in ancient Mesoamerican culture that spans approximately
900 BCE to 400 BCE (~2400 to ~3000 years ago).

Questions:
1. What archaeological evidence is there for social change among ancient Honduran cultures
during the Formative period?
2. What kinds of contexts are Playa de los Muertos figurines found in?
3. How are the figurines connected to other artifacts found in human burial contexts (i.e., graves)?
4. Rather than gender, what characteristic do the Playa-style figurines better represent?
 Study Guide, Anth 2263

5. Describe the general meaning behind the different hair and ornamentation types found in the
four identified classes of figurines.
6. What meaning is interpreted from the animal bodies represented among the figurines?