考古學的家屋社會研究

The Archaeology of House Societies

家屋社會為人類學家李維史陀在探討社會組織時所提出的概念，由於此一概念結合了物質文化與社會組織的探討，因此近年來考古學家廣泛運用此一概念來探討史前的社會關係。本文主要藉由回顧文化人類學及考古學中對於家屋社會的研究，一方面探討學者如何利用此一概念來認識東南亞地區南島語族的社會組織，另一方則討論家屋社會的概念如何協助考古學者運用考古資料來討論史前社會組織，最後則嘗試論述家屋社會概念在臺灣考古學研究的可能性及重要性。當文化人類學者利用家屋社會的概念來理解南島語族社會時，歸納出一些共有的特徵。由於這些特徵皆和物質文化息息相關，因此提供考古學者推論史前社會組織的線索。考古學的家屋社會研究主要有三個趨勢，一是強調家屋社會在南島語族社會的延續性，認為家屋社會為南島語族社會的古老模式，因此亦存在於南島史前社會中；二是將家屋社會的概念視為啟發式的工具，用於思考建築結構、人群及文化範疇的關係；最後則是將家屋社會視為社會發展中的一個階段，可以在不同地區的史前社會中被驗證。本文藉由回顧不同地區考古學者對於家屋社會的研究，進一步提出此一概念在對認識臺灣史前社會的重要性，冀望藉由這一概念可以重新提供詮釋臺灣考古資料的可能性。

The concept of House Society was first proposed by Lévi-Strauss in the 1950s. Because this concept provides a link between material culture and social organization, it offers archaeologists an avenue to discuss prehistoric social relations. This article reviews anthropological and archaeological research of the House Society concept and specifically examines cultural anthropologists' usage of this model to understand Austronesian social organization in Southeast Asia. Additionally, a review of archaeological approaches using House Society to discuss social relations is examined. Finally, I suggest that this concept can be an important and useful idea for archaeological research in Taiwan. Cultural anthropologists have identified common traits among the Austronesian societies associated with material culture which provide archaeologists evidence to investigate prehistoric social organization. Three ways of applying the House Society concept to archaeology are recognized. The first, is to emphasize the continuous presence of this type of social organization among Austronesian societies. House Society is regarded as an ancient pattern that can be traced through prehistoric Austronesian societies. Second, House Society is viewed as a heuristic device to consider the relationship between architecture, social relations and cultural categories. The third is to consider House Society as a form of social organization in social history which can then be tested worldwide. The purpose of reviewing archaeological research regarding House Societies around the world is to emphasize the potential forf using this concept to understand prehistoric Taiwanese societies. Also, this concept can help archaeologists to reinterpret archaeological data recovered from Taiwan.