Houses and house-life of the American aborigines / Lewis Henry Morgan ; foreword by William A. Longacre.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morgan, Lewis Henry, 1818-1881.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Social life and customs.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Dwellings.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 281 pages, 28 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, [2003]

Summary:

A classic, available again. Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) was trained as a lawyer, but in the second part of his life he focused his attention on the emerging science of ethnography. Covering areas of North and Central America, Morgan's last book, "Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines "was the first to regard a set of problems that is still currently debated: what does domestic architecture show anthropologists and archaeologists about social organization, and how does social organization combine with a system of production technology and ecological adjustment to influence domestic and public architecture? As William Longacre makes clear in the new introduction, the development of anthropological archaeology was profoundly affected by this book, and its impact continues to resonate. Demonstrating a lack of ethnocentrism rare for his day, Morgan gathered most of his own data from the field and from a gigantic correspondence. The result is a lively, readable work that is still fascinating and instructive today.

Notes:

"Originally published as volume IV of Contributions to North American ethnology ... 1881"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0874807549

OCLC:

52096017