anthropologist richard wilk. a household is an activity group. it's a group of people who work together, who consume together, who take part in all the activities of everyday life. it's a unit of people cooperating and sharing -- putting money together, putting work together, taking care of children, living under a single roof. keach: what makes households so different from culture to culture ? archaeologists are looking for patterns in the past. their search takes us back to a time when the home was the center of society, protected by the god of the hearth. these are the ruins of the ancient maya, who flourished from the time of christ to a.d. 900. at their height, maya settlements spanned southern mesoamerica, from the yucatan in the north to el salvador in the south. the maya left behind dozens of cities, marked by tall pyramids and imposing statues. these remnants offer a portrait of the maya elite. but archaeologist payson sheets was seeking a broader picture. man: we want to deal with the common people, the people who are doing the farming,