A Social Archaeology of Households in Neolithic Greece
An Anthropological Approach

This volume examines how the household is defined socially, culturally and historically in Neolithic Greece.

Stella G. Souvatzi (Author)

9780521836890, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 April 2008

332 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.79 kg

'Souvatzi provides conceptual guidance on understanding the behavioural patterns of the early settlers of the region and offers suggestions for future research in other regions using her alternative interpretations of household.' European Journal of Archaeology

The study of households and everyday life is increasingly recognized as fundamental in social archaeological analysis. This volume addresses the household as a process and as a conceptual and analytical means through which we can interpret social organization from the bottom up. Using detailed case studies from Neolithic Greece, Stella Souvatzi examines how the household is defined socially, culturally and historically; she discusses household and community, variability, production and reproduction, individual and collective agency, identity, change, complexity and integration. Her study is enriched by an in-depth discussion of the framework for the household in the social sciences and the synthesis of many anthropological, historical and sociological examples. It reverses the view of the household as passive, ahistorical and stable, showing it instead to be active, dynamic and continually shifting.

1. The household in the social sciences
2. The household as process in a social archaeology
3. The Neolithic of Greece
4. The ideal and the real: the examples of Early Neolithic Nea Nikomedeia and Middle Neolithic Sesklo
5. Complexity is not only about hierarchy: Late Neolithic Dimini, a detailed case study in household organisation
6. Homogeneity or diversity? Households as variable processes
7. Evolution or contingency? Households as transitional processes
8. Household and beyond: implications and prospects for social archaeology.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Archaeology [HD], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]