No Place Like Home: Ancient Near Eastern Houses and Households

This book had its genesis in a series of 6 popular and well-attended ASOR conference sessions on Household Archaeology in the Ancient Near East. The 18 chapters are organized in three thematic sections: Architecture as Archive of Social SpaceThe Active HouseholdRitual Space at Home.

No Place Like Home: Ancient Near Eastern Houses and Households had its genesis in a series of six popular and well-attended ASOR conference sessions on Household Archaeology in the Ancient Near East. A selection of papers are presented here, together with four invited contributions. The 18 chapters are organized in three thematic sections. Chapters in the first, Architecture as Archive of Social Space, profile houses as records of the lives of inhabitants, changing and adapting with residents; many offer a background focus on how human behavior is shaped by the walls of one’s own home. This section also includes innovative approaches to understanding who dwelled in these homes. For instances, one chapter explores evidence for children in a house, another surveys what it was like to live in a military barracks. The middle section, The Active Household, focuses on the evidence for how residents carried out household activities including work and food preparation. Chapters include the ‘heart of household archaeology’ in their application of activity area research, but also drill down to the social significance of what residents were doing or eating, and where such actions were taking place. The final section, Ritual Space at Home, features studies on the house as ritual space. The entire complement of chapters provides the latest research on houses and households spanning the Chalcolithic to the Roman periods and from Turkey to Egypt.

Chapter 1. Introduction: No Place Like Home - Laura Battini, Aaron Brody, and Sharon R. Steadman Architecture as Archive of Social Space Chapter 2. 'Social House' Theory and Egyptian Archaeology - Nicholas Picardo Chapter 3. Households, Communities, and Dimensions of Social Identity in the Early Iron Age at Tall al-'Umayri, Jordan - Monique D. Vincent Chapter 4. Houses and Households in Urartu: Evidence from the Outer Town at Ayanis - Paul Zimansky Chapter 5. Living at the Gate: Identification of Military Housing at Neo-Assyrian Tushan (Ziyaret Tepe) - Timothy Matney, Tina L. Greenfield, Kemalettin Koroglu, John MacGinnis, Britt Hartenberger, and Melissa Rosenzweig Chapter 6. Neo-Babylonian Domestic Houses at Ur in Social Perspective - Laura Battini Chapter 7. Identity at the Twilight of Empire: Domestic Foodways and Cultural Practice at 12th Century BC Beth-Shean - Jacob C. Damm The Active Household Chapter 8. 'Work/Life Balance' in Late Chalcolithic Anatolia: Household Activities and Spatial Organization at Cadir Hoyuk - Stephanie Selover, Laurel D. Hackley, and Sharon R. Steadman Chapter 9. Household Archaeology During the Early Bronze III of Tell es-Safi/Gath - Haskel J. Greenfield, Jon Ross, Shira Albaz, Tina L. Greenfield, Jeremy A. Beller, Suembikya Frumin, Ehud Weiss, and Aren M. Maeir Chapter 10. House, Household, and The Umm An-Nar: Structure SS1 at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, Sultanate of Oman - Jennifer Swerida Chapter 11. A Closer Look: The Houses on the Southeastern Hill of Jerusalem in Economic Perspective - Margreet L. Steiner Chapter 12. The Daily Bread at Tell Halif: An Overview of Food Production and Consumption - Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Tim Frank, and Oded Borowski Chapter 13. Living and Working at Home: Workshops and Workplaces in Romano-Egyptian Houses - Anna Lucille Boozer Ritual Space at Home Chapter 14. Accidental or Intentional?: An Ubaid Period Burnt Structure at Kenan Tepe, Turkey - Marie Hopwood Chapter 15. Bronze Age Upper Mesopotamian Houses: A Ritualized Space? - Juliette Mas Chapter 16. Ritual Allsorts: An Archaeology of Domestic Religious Admixture in Kultepe-Kanes - Yagmur Heffron, Chapter 1. Introduction: No Place Like Home – Laura Battini, Aaron Brody, and Sharon R. Steadman Architecture as Archive of Social Space Chapter 2. ‘Social House’ Theory and Egyptian Archaeology – Nicholas Picardo Chapter 3. Households, Communities, and Dimensions of Social Identity in the Early Iron Age at
Tall al-ʿUmayri, Jordan – Monique D. Vincent Chapter 4. Houses and Households in Urartu: Evidence from the Outer Town at Ayanis – Paul Zimansky Chapter 5. Living at the Gate: Identification of Military Housing at Neo-Assyrian Tušhan (Ziyaret Tepe) – Timothy Matney, Tina L. Greenfield, Kemalettin Köroǧlu, John MacGinnis, Britt Hartenberger,
and Melissa Rosenzweig Chapter 6. Neo-Babylonian Domestic Houses at Ur in Social Perspective – Laura Battini Chapter 7. Identity at the Twilight of Empire: Domestic Foodways and Cultural Practice at 12th Century BC Beth-Shean – Jacob C. Damm The Active Household Chapter 8. ‘Work/Life Balance’ in Late Chalcolithic Anatolia: Household Activities and Spatial Organization at Çadır Höyük – Stephanie Selover, Laurel D. Hackley, and Sharon R. Steadman Chapter 9. Household Archaeology During the Early Bronze III of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath – Haskel J. Greenfield, Jon Ross, Shira Albaz, Tina L. Greenfield, Jeremy A. Beller, Suembikya Frumin, Ehud Weiss, and Aren M. Maeir Chapter 10. House, Household, and The Umm An-Nar: Structure SS1 at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, Sultanate of Oman – Jennifer Swerida Chapter 11. A Closer Look: The Houses on the Southeastern Hill of Jerusalem in Economic Perspective – Margreet L. Steiner Chapter 12. The Daily Bread at Tell Halif: An Overview of Food Production and Consumption – Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Tim Frank, and Oded Borowski Chapter 13. Living and Working at Home: Workshops and Workplaces in Romano-Egyptian Houses – Anna Lucille Boozer Ritual Space at Home Chapter 14. Accidental or Intentional?: An Ubaid Period Burnt Structure at Kenan Tepe, Turkey – Marie Hopwood Chapter 15. Bronze Age Upper Mesopotamian Houses: A Ritualized Space? – Juliette Mas Chapter 16. Ritual Allsorts: An Archaeology of Domestic Religious Admixture in Kültepe-Kaneš – Yağmur Heffron