Household studies in complex societies : (micro) archaeological and textual approaches / edited by Miriam Müller, with contributions by Felix Arnold, Heather. D. Baker,... [et al]

Papers from the Oriental Institute Seminar "Household Studies in Complex Societies" Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 15-16 March 2013.

Introduction : Household Studies in Complex Societes : (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches / Miriam Müller -- Part I. Method and Theory -- 1. Investigating Traces of Everyday Life in Ancient Households : Some Methodological Considerations / Lynn Rainville -- 2. Activity-area Analysis : A Comprehensive Theoretical Model / Peter Pfalzner -- 3. How to Reconstruct Daily Life in a Near Eastern Settlement : Possibilities and Constraints of a Combined Archaeological, Historical and Scientific Approach / Adelheid Otto -- 4. Ancient Egyptian Houses and Households : Architecture, Artifacts, Conceptualization, and Interpretation / Kate Spence -- 5. Artifact Assemblages in Classical Greek Domestic Contexts : Toward a New Approach / Lisa C. Nevett -- Part II. Perception of Space -- 6. Interaction between Texts and Social Space in Mesopotamian Houses : Movement and Sensory Approach / Paolo Brusasco -- 7. Clean and Unclean Space : Domestic Waste Management at Elephantine / Felix Arnold -- 8. Creating a Neighborhood within a Changing Town : Household and other Agencies at Amara West in Nubia / Neal Spencer -- 9. Crucial Contexts : A Closer Reading of the Household of the Casa del Menandro at Pompeii / Jens-Arne Dickmann -- Part III. Identity and Ethnicity -- 10. Private House or Temple? Decoding Patterns of the Old Babylonian Architecture / Peter A. Miglus -- 11. Hybrid Households : Institutional Affiliations and Household Identity in the Town of Wah-sut ( South Abydos) / Nicholas Picardo -- 12. Living in Households, Constructing Identities : Ethnicity, Boundaries, and Empire in Iron II Tell en-Nasbeh / Aaron J. Brody -- 13. Micro-archaeological Perspectives on the Philistine Household throughout the Iron Age and Their Implications / Aren M. Maeir -- Part IV. Society -- 14. Property Title, Domestic Architecture, and Household Lifecycles in Egypt / Brian P. Muhs -- 15. Late Middle Kingdom Society in a Neighborhood of Tell el-Dab'a-Avaris / Miriam Müller -- 16. Family Structure, Household Cycle, and theSocial Use of Domestic Space in Urban Babylonia / Heater D. Baker -- 17. Reconstructing Houses and Archives in Early Islamic Jeme / Tasha Vorderstrasse -- Part V. Responses -- 18. Social Conditions in the Ancient Near East : Houses and Households in Perspective / Elizabeth C. Stone -- 19. Multifunctionality and Hybrid Households : The Case of Ancient Egypt / Nadine Moeller -- 20. A Mesoamerican Perspective on Old World Household Studies in Complex Societes / Cynthia Robin.

The volume is the result of the Ninth Annual University of Chicago Oriental Institute PostDoc Seminar, held on March 16-17, 2013. Twenty scholars specialized in the Old and New World from all over Europe and the US came together to find new approaches in the study of households in complex societies. The papers in this volume present case studies from the Near East, Egypt and Nubia, the Classical World, and Mesoamerica, including three comparative responses from the perspective of the different disciplines. By combining the archaeology record, scientific data and written documents the papers examine and contextualize different approaches and techniques in uncovering household behavior from the material record and discuss their suitability for the respective region and site. Building on the methodological groundwork laid out in a number of recent publications on household archaeology the volume contributes to the methodological and theoretical discussion, expands on the topics of society, identity, and ethnicity in household studies and opens up new avenues of research such as the perception of space in this innovative field. At the same time the papers reveal problems and disparities with which household archaeology is still struggling. It is hoped that the variety of case studies presented in this volume will further inspire the interested reader to establish new research agendas and excavation strategies that contribute to the development of the field in the various regions covered in the different papers and beyond.