House and household in the Neolithic

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Ideas of house, and even home, have long been part of Neolithic narratives (cf. Cauvin 1994; Hodder 1990; Watkins 1990). However, ‘house’ is not a neutral term, but carries implicit social and cultural meaning. Attempts have been made to problematize these comfortable present-day concepts, but they remain very much baked into our conception of the Neolithic (Finlayson et al. 2011a). They are an integral component of domestication and increasing sedentism — both key aspects of our perspective on the Neolithic. Inevitably, reference to the notion of the household, and even the household society, grows out of these houses, with a dynamic interplay between collective community (or ‘village’) organization and the segmentary forces of independent and self-contained households (e.g. Byrd 1994).

Archaeological knowledge of Neolithic architecture has developed enormously since these concepts became embedded in our terminology, perhaps especially in our knowledge of collective structures, and it seems time for a comprehensive review. Is ‘house’ a useful term, or simply shorthand, and if the former, can we actually track its emergence as an important element of social evolution? Building on that, can we see evidence for household societies (in an anthropological sense) within the Neolithic? In this paper, I am considering the Neolithic evidence, primarily from southern Jordan — taking into account both regional diversity and long-term development paths.

Authors: Finlayson, WF

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Brepols
• Host title: Households & Collective Buildings in Western Asian Neolithic Societies
• Pages: 15-36
• Chapter number: 2
• Series: LEMA
• Publication date: 2024-01-01
• DOI: 10.1484/m.lema-eb.5.135835
• EISSN: 2983-9564
• ISSN: 2983-9556
• EISBN: 9782503609546
• ISBN: 9782503609539
• Language: English
• Keywords: house; household; neolithic; structure; home
• Subtype: Chapter