Illustrations  ix

Tables  xi

Acknowledgments  xiii

Introduction: Thinking About Memory  1

1. Communities of Practice in Honduras in the Seventh Century through the Eleventh  33

2. The Enchantment and Humility of Objects  63

3. The Semiotic House: Everyday Life and Domestic Space  91

4. Embodied Forms of Knowing  123

5. Relational Identities and Material Domains  149

6. Special Events at Home  181

7. Ballcourts and Houses: Shared Patterns of Monumentality and Domesticity  203

Conclusion: Communities of Memory and Local Histories  227

Notes  239

Bibliography  243

Index  283

“[Hendon’s] nuanced analysis is brilliantly crafted, culturally intimate, and immensely provocative. Hendon’s playing field spans a range of objects, features, and monuments that elicit newfound insights into the seeming intangibles of memory in Maya thought and culture. Ultimately, the author delivers the promise and prospect for interpreting community memory, daily life, and the dynamics of intergroup relations via the thoughtful, introspective consideration of objects recovered from cultural landscapes in archaeology. Highly recommended.”—R. G. Mendoza, Choice

“I encourage scholars of the Maya and construction of memory to read Hendon’s attractive and well-presented volume. . . . Overall, Houses in a Landscape is likely to fuel scholarly debate and inspire archaeological projects to test its conclusions for many years to come.”—Stephen L. Whittington, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Association

“It is a distinct pleasure to read a book about the pre-Hispanic Maya that does not focus on political history, monumentality, epigraphy, or cosmology. These facets of the Maya world were important, of course, especially with respect to the questions of social memory raised by Julia Hendon in this book. But obviously they were no more important than the everyday experience of the multitudes of people in Mesoamerica. And it is the realm of the quotidian that Hendon relates to social memory in Houses in a Landscape…. There is much to recommend in this book, and both professional archaeologists and students will find in it particularly good examples of the practical applicability of contemporary theories in archaeology.” —Timothy Pauketat, American Anthropologist

“[C]learly written… well suited for graduate or upper division student reading in courses on Mesoamerican archaeology… The book does a great job of forcing the archaeologist to rethink the spaces they excavate and to examine how her ideas fit within their own domestic research contexts.”—Jennifer Mathews, Bulletin of Latin American Research

“[Hendon’s] nuanced analysis is brilliantly crafted, culturally intimate, and immensely provocative. Hendon’s playing field spans a range of objects, features, and monuments that elicit newfound insights into the seeming intangibles of memory in Maya thought and culture. Ultimately, the author delivers the promise and prospect for interpreting community memory, daily life, and the dynamics of intergroup relations via the thoughtful, introspective consideration of objects recovered from cultural landscapes in archaeology. Highly recommended.”—R. G. Mendoza, Choice

“I encourage scholars of the Maya and construction of memory to read Hendon’s attractive and well-presented volume. . . . Overall, Houses in a Landscape is likely to fuel scholarly debate and inspire archaeological projects to test its conclusions for many years to come.”—Stephen L. Whittington, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Association

“It is a distinct pleasure to read a book about the pre-Hispanic Maya that does not focus on political history, monumentality, epigraphy, or cosmology. These facets of the Maya world were important, of course, especially with respect to the questions of social memory raised by Julia Hendon in this book. But obviously they were no more important than the everyday experience of the multitudes of people in Mesoamerica. And it is the realm of the quotidian that Hendon relates to social memory in Houses in a Landscape…. There is much to recommend in this book, and both professional archaeologists and students will find in it particularly good examples of the practical applicability of contemporary theories in archaeology.” —Timothy Pauketat, American Anthropologist

“[C]learly written… well suited for graduate or upper division student reading in courses on Mesoamerican archaeology… The book does a great job of forcing the archaeologist to rethink the spaces they excavate and to examine how her ideas fit within their own domestic research contexts.”—Jennifer Mathews, Bulletin of Latin American Research

“This is an invigorating, original, and intellectually rewarding book, notable for the breadth and critical rigor of Julia A. Hendon’s theoretical discussions, and the originality of her insights to ancient Honduran societies. It will be of interest not only to archaeologists but also to social theorists more broadly.”—Wendy Ashmore, coeditor of Household and Community in the Mesoamerican Past

“A brilliant work, Houses in a Landscape sets a new standard for the social archaeology of the Maya and related cultures. It is theoretically sophisticated, meticulously researched, and beautifully written, and it extends the existing literature on memory and archaeology in significant ways. ”—Robert W. Preucel, author of Archaeological Semiotics

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