Archaeological Perspectives on Houses and Households in Third Millennium Mesopotamian Society.

Intro -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter One -- 1.1 The Archaeological Significance of Houses -- 1.2 Research Context -- 1.3 Research Issues and Questions -- 1.3.1 How large were Mesopotamian residential groups? -- 1.3.2 How was space used in Mesopotamian houses? -- 1.3.3 What evidence is there of variation in the wealth of Mesopotamian houses? -- 1.3.4 What was private and public for the occupants of Mesopotamian houses? -- 1.4 Spatial Studies -- 1.5 House, Household and Society in Upper and Lower Mesopotamia -- 1.5.1 Lower Mesopotamia -- 1.5.2 Upper Mesopotamia -- Chapter Two -- 2.1 A Survey of Some Methodologies in Houses and Household Analysis -- 2.1.1 Typology -- 2.1.2 Features -- 2.1.3 Architectural Reconstruction -- 2.1.4 Texts -- 2.2 Ground Plan Analysis -- 2.3 Space Syntax -- 2.4 Ethnography and Ethnoarchaeology -- 2.4.1 Kramer's Village Ethnoarchaeology -- 2.4.2 Archaeological Ethnography in Western Iran -- 2.4.3 Horne's Study of Village Spaces -- 2.4.4 Seeden's Analysis of Syrian Villages -- 2.4.5 Villages in Jordan -- 2.4.6 Cafer Höyük -- 2.4.7 The Kurdish Woman's Life -- Chapter Three -- 3.1 Tell Melebiya -- 3.1.1 House B1 -- 3.1.2 House B2 -- 3.1.3 House B4 -- 3.1.4 House B7 -- 3.1.5 House G1 -- 3.1.6 House B6 -- 3.1.7 House C2 -- 3.1.8 House G2 -- 3.2 Titris Höyük -- 3.2.1 Building Unit I -- 3.2.2 Building Unit II -- 3.2.3 Building Unit IV -- 3.2.4 Building Unit 1 -- 3.3 Tell Taya -- 3.3.1 Area AAr -- 3.3.2 Area Py -- 3.3.3 Area Qaa -- 3.3.4 Area Abb -- 3.3.5 Area Tcc -- 3.3.6 Area Tcc -- 3.3.7 Area Vx -- 3.3.8 Area Yr/s -- 3.4 Summary -- Chapter Four -- 4.1 Khafajah -- 4.1.1 Khafajah Mound A -- 4.1.2 Khafajah Mound B and C -- 4.1.3 Khafajah Mound D -- 4.2 Tell Asmar -- 4.2.1 Stratum Vc -- 4.2.2 Stratum Vb -- 4.2.3 Stratum Va -- 4.3 Summary -- Chapter Five.

5.1 Tell Abu Salabikh -- 5.1.1 Building 5G65 -- 5.1.2 Building 6H82 -- 5.1.3 Southern Unit -- 5.1.4 Burned Building -- 5.2 Shuruppak -- 5.2.1 House Vlak-al -- 5.2.2 House Vlls-u -- 5.2.3 House XVa-d -- 5.2.4 House XVad -- Chapter Six -- 6.1 How Large were Mesopotamian Residential Groups? -- 6.2 How was Space used in Mesopotamian Houses? -- 6.2.1 Open Courtyard -- 6.2.2 Features in Rooms -- 6.3 What Evidence is there of Variation in the Wealth of Mesopotamian Houses? -- 6.4 What was Private and Public for the Occupants of Mesopotamian Houses? -- Chapter Seven -- Bibliography.

There have been few studies in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology that have concentrated on domestic buildings, with little existent information about houses. This represents a serious lacuna in the knowledge of Mesopotamian culture, considering the importance of the house in society, as the main space of social dynamics.This book addresses this gap, analysing the characteristics and the variations of Mesopotamian houses in the third millennium, which represents a critical period for early urbanization. It identifies common aspects and differences, and relates those characteristics to the socio-economical history of the period to broaden the understanding of this interesting period in Mesopotamian culture.To examine variations and use of space, seven sites were analysed from north (Tell Melebiya, Titris Höyük, and Tell Taya), central (Khafajah and Tell Asmar) and south Mesopotamia (Tell Abu Salabikh and Shuruppak) for a total number of 68 house plans. Several aspects have been investigated, such as the size of households, the evidence of wealth, the concept of privacy, and the role of women in society.The database of houses collected in this book also offers a reference for other sites to analyse houses and households.

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