women. Hairdressers worked with oils and perfumes to cre-
ate the latest in hairstyle fashions. A visit to a hairdresser was
a woman’s chance to relax.
Important to any Roman community was the fuller, who
had one of the most miserable occupations. A fuller cleaned
and mended clothing and fabrics. A clothes maker sent new
fabric to a fuller, who prepared it for cutting and sewing not
only by cleaning it but also by soft ening it, shrinking it, and
bleaching it. Very few people cleaned their own clothes, pre-
ferring to have a fuller do the job. For cleaning, the fuller
used soda or potash. Bleaching was done by burning sulfur
under cloth spread over wooden frames. To thicken cloth,
the fuller treated it with urine he had collected from public
lavatories. He would spend hours stamping on urine-soaked
cloth. When fabric or a garment was ready, the fuller would
spit a fi ne spray of water on it. He would also patch or stitch
tears. A fuller always smelled foul, and his presence was
rarely tolerated by others outside his shop, unless there was a
local fuller’s guild house he could visit. He suff ered from skin
diseases caused by the urine and chemicals he used, and his
lungs were damaged by the sulfur fumes he breathed during
bleaching.
Th e Romans oft en tore down buildings in order to rebuild
them, and they had numerous ongoing construction projects
throughout their empire. Many construction workers were
unskilled laborers who were given the dangerous jobs of hoist-
ing stone with cranes or carrying stones and bricks to where
they would be used. On the other hand, stonemasons were
skilled with many tools, such as drills, chisels, hammers, and
saws. Th ey not only shaped and fi t together stones for build-
ing but also were expected to be able to carve images to deco-
rate buildings and to carve tombstones. Carpenters were also
skilled workers who mastered several diff erent kinds of tools,
such as planes, saws, and levels. In cities carpenters could
specialize, with some working in building construction and
others making furniture. Outside of cities carpenters would
have been expected to be able to do both.
THE AMERICAS
BY PENELOPE OJEDA DE HUALA
Ancient American occupations revolved around subsistence.
Th e people of t he Americas varied in t he jobs t hey per formed,
from primarily hunting and gathering in North America to
engaging in agriculture in Mesoamerica and South America.
Th e development of native societies can be traced through the
various ways in which people labored. Archaic culture is de-
fi ned by its adaptation to the environment. By 8000 b.c.e. the
glacial ice that had once covered the North American conti-
nent had completely receded. As a result, the Archaic Period
(ca. 8000–ca. 1000 b.c.e.) saw a spreading out of indigenous
groups throughout the North American continent. At the
same time, big-game animals, such as ground sloths, mam-
moths, giant beavers (as large as modern bears), mastodons,
camels, musk oxen, and horses became extinct. Th e changed
environment necessitated adaptation on the part of the North
American inhabitants. Because of the lack of big game, lo-
cal resources had to be exploited by hunting of smaller game,
gathering of wild plants, fi shing, foraging, and early cultiva-
tion. Th e most prestigious position during the Archaic Period
was that of a local ruler, who fostered such activities as inter-
tribal ties, marriage alliances, and trade. Religious specialists
were undoubtedly also honored positions.
Th e people of the Great Plains, an area that lies east of
the Rocky Mountains and includes parts of the present-day
states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyo-
ming as well as parts of southern Canada, were predomi-
nantly occupied by hunting. People hunted rabbits, beavers,
and some of the surviving big-game animals, such as bison,
elk, black bear, grizzly bear, and deer. Th ey supplemented
their diet by foraging for berries and nuts. Th e Archaic desert
people of the present-day states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona
also hunted small game and foraged for seasonal wild plants,
nuts, and seeds.
For the people of the northwest coast, who resided in
the present-day states of Washington, Oregon, and parts of
Alaska, fi shing became a major occupation. Th e migratory
fi sh runs, such as the salmon spawning season, provided a
livelihood that allowed for more established settlements.
Hunting of big game, such as moose, elk, and deer, along with
foraging of various local plants, supplemented food obtained
by fi shing.
Th e movement from large mobile resources to small fi xed
resources throughout North America led to fi xed settlements
and more sophisticated group structures. Th e appearance of
mound building in the eastern part of North America as early
as 2500 b.c.e. indicates that societies had become more strati-
fi ed and that ritua l specia lists, probably priest-rulers, held the
highest social positions. Artists also became prominent, as
ritual objects for burials became highly prized. Merchants,
who worked in concert with community elites, became in-
creasingly important in the long-distance trade for luxury
materials and items.
Th e successive cultures that prospered in Mesoamerica
shared a unique set of cultural traits, including the use of
a 260-day ritual calendar, a dependence on maize agricul-
ture, the development of pictorial or hieroglyphic writing
systems, and certain rituals such as the ball game. Th e fi rst
great agriculturally based society in Mesoamerica, the Ol-
mec civilization, fl ourished in the Gulf Coast area of Mexico
from around 1500 to 400 b.c.e. Th e success of maize-based
farming led to more complex social structures. Archaeologi-
cal evidence points to a cult centered on a ruler-shaman. Th e
use of a 260-day ritual calendar and the development of hi-
eroglyphic writing entailed the use of scribes, diviners, and
specialized priests. Finely worked jade objects and ceramics
found at various Olmec sites, along with the stone monumen-
tal sculptures, point to the presence of artistic specialists.
Warrior imagery suggests the importance of this occupation,occupations: The Americas 817