Yasur-Lau Assaf. Household Archaeology in Ancient Israel and Beyond
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292 lily singer-avitz
house and its surroundings were largely the domain of women, who
engaged in everyday activities pertaining to the family. e men, on
the other hand, spent most of their day outside the house, cultivating
the elds or participating in political or religious functions (Watson
1979: 298). It therefore can be suggested that the nds in a typical
household are associated primarily with the activities of women, while
in buildings occupied only by men, these types of household artifacts
might be missing. Based on this suggestion, an attempt was made here
to dierentiate between male and female living spaces or activity areas
in the Stratum II buildings at Tel Beersheba.
Food Preparation
According to ethnographic studies, activities connected with food
preparation and cooking are generally carried out by women (Nelson
1997: 104–106).
6
Objects found in the archaeological record that can
be associated with food preparation are cooking ovens, grindstones,
mortars, and cooking pots. As ovens are considered the most basic
component for dening the existence of a kitchen (Chang 1958: 302),
we can assume that oven location indicates areas of female activity.
Grindstones, mortars, and cooking pots were oen found next to
ovens, but in other places as well, which suggests that grinding was
done in various locations within the house.
Weaving and Spinning
Accumulations of loom weights were found mainly in the central room
of the four-room houses and indicate the presence of a loom. Since
weaving was typically carried out by women (Watson 1979: 174–186;
Barber 1991: 283–298; Brumel 1991; Nelson 1997: 109–110), these
too may point to the location of women’s activity areas. Since spinning
is a task also performed by women (Brumfel, 1991; (Barber 1991: 283–
298; Nelson 1997: 109–110), I expected to nd a correlation between
6
An interesting study of skeletal remains from Neolithic graves at Abu Hureyra in
northern Syria demonstrated that “the majority of the toe bones that show articular
changes associated with kneeling are from females. erefore, it can be inferred that
most of the grain preparation was carried out by women and girls” (Molleson 2007:
191–192).
household activities at tel beersheba 293
the distribution of loom weights and spindle whorls. An analysis of
their distribution in the Tel Beersheba Stratum II buildings, however,
has shown that there is only a partial correlation in the spatial distri-
bution of these two types of artifacts. Concentrations of loom weights
were found in approximately forty loci and eight spindle whorls were
found in seven loci, of which only three also contained concentrations
of loom weights.
7
Weapons
Can the presence of weapons in certain spaces of the house reect
male activity areas? e answer, according to the distribution of nds,
is apparently “no.” Even if such nds were recovered, my assumption
is that they indicate storage areas rather than specic activity areas.
Jewelry
Items such as iron and bronze rings, bracelets, earrings, and bulae
were found in Stratum II. Based on the analysis of nds from Iron
Age cemeteries in the southern Levant, it is clear that rings, bracelets,
anklets, and earrings are found in burials of both sexes and all ages
(Bloch-Smith 1992: 82; Green 2007), thus, their spatial distribution in
the various dwellings at Tel Beersheba cannot be used as a reection
of gendered activities.
Domestic Ritual
Female Figurines
Most of the clay gurines found at Tel Beersheba Stratum II are zoo-
morphic (ca. 150), but there are also 47 female gurines of various
types. A diversity of opinions has been expressed regarding the sig-
nicance and function of gurines (‘Amr 1980, 1988; van der Toorn
7
Bone spatulas have also been suggested as possible weaving tools (Tufnell 1953:
397; Van Beek and Van Beek 1990; Friend 1998: 6–7). At Tel Beersheba, spatulas
were recovered in 43 Stratum II loci, of which 30 contained also loom weights. us,
according to this data, there appears to have been a functional connection between
the cra of weaving and spatulas.
294 lily singer-avitz
2002). An analysis of the spatial distribution of all the clay gurines
found in Stratum II indicates that most were found in domestic build-
ings. Only a few were found in public structures. No further distribu-
tion pattern of any signicance was discerned. Based on their spatial
distribution in the dwellings, it can be established that gurines were
basic household items that probably played a role in household cult.
It remains to be determined, however, if female gurines were used
only in women’s domestic rituals and therefore would reect women’s
activity areas.
Stone Altars
Seventeen small stone altars were found in Stratum II, some in public
buildings (such as Building 430, the storehouses and the “Basement
Building”) and others in dwellings. Remarkably, none were found in
buildings in the Western and Southern Quarters. While it is possible
that these altars were used in household ritual, they may also have
had a secular function. In the opinion of Neufeld (1970: 430–431), the
burning of incense improved the smell in the house (where ventilation
conditions were far from ideal), and the smoke drove insects away,
possibly preventing disease.
In summary, dierentiating between male and female activity areas
is a dicult task. Only a limited number of activities can be distin-
guished, such as cooking and weaving, which were typically performed
by women. It is possible that, in the majority of the dwellings, men and
women shared most spaces (Hingley 1990: 141).
e Relative Wealth of the Households
Is it possible to assess, based on the remains of the domestic buildings,
the wealth of the households and the social status of their occupants?
As mentioned above, the three-room buildings in the Northern Quar-
ter were not occupied by typical households, nor were some of the
buildings in the Central Quarter. us, in an attempt to estimate the
relative wealth of the Tel Beersheba households, I have chosen to ana-
lyze only the four-room houses (those adjoining the city wall, as well
as those opposite them, on the peripheral street) and only the three-
room buildings located on the inner side of the peripheral street.
household activities at tel beersheba 295
In the opinion of Faust, architecture is the best tool for identifying
socioeconomic dierences (Faust 1999b, 2005: 45–46). In his analysis
of the dwellings at several sites, including Tel Beersheba, he exam-
ines three components: (1) the area of the building; (2) the quality
of the construction (mainly whether it was built according to a plan
and whether it displays straight walls and corners); and (3) the num-
ber of party walls with adjacent buildings (Faust 2005: 50–110). As
for the above-discussed dwellings at Tel Beersheba Stratum II, it is
evident that most of them were built according to a standard plan:
the walls were straight, the building techniques and materials were
similar, and no special investment of eort is evident. In addition, all
the buildings shared party walls with adjacent structures. Traces of
cedar wood, which was imported from Lebanon and therefore pos-
sibly reects wealth or status, suggest that cedar had apparently been
used as building material in public structures (e.g., the storehouses
and the “Basement Building”), as well as in private dwellings (e.g.,
Buildings 25 and 770). e domestic units dier from one another
mainly in their size, which ranges between 33 and 100 m2. erefore,
the question arises if size alone can be used as a reection of the status
of the inhabitants, or if the number of vessels within a building is a
more accurate reection of status, as suggested by Wood (1990: 90),
or whether there is a dierent method by which “status” should or
can be measured. Ethnographic studies have revealed that in certain
societies there is a correlation between the size of a house and the level
of wealth (Smith 1987: 301), but there are also societies in which the
houses of the social elite are not dierent from others (Todd 1974:
85–88; Kamp 1987). Since construction with mudbricks is relatively
cheap, the size of the house may not necessarily attest to the wealth of
the residents (Kamp 2000: 84).
Fig. 6 (the x axis denotes building numbers) and Table 1 present a
comparison between the size of buildings and the number of complete
pottery vessels found in them. Do the data support the hypothesis that
the larger buildings belonged to wealthier households or owners of
higher status? Does Building 1441, with the smallest area but the larg-
est assemblage of vessels, represent a poorer household than other
buildings (e.g., Buildings 630, 770) that cover signicantly larger areas
but yielded relatively few nds? It is clear from the data presented that
larger buildings do not necessarily contain more vessels, nor was any
correlation found between the number of vessels and either a public
or a private building. In fact, buildings dened by their plans as public
296 lily singer-avitz
structures sometimes contained fewer vessels than domestic buildings,
as, for example, the “Governor’s Palace,” in which a total of 71 vessels
was recovered, as compared to 80 in domestic Building 1441.
Anthropological studies have also suggested that, in response to
uctuations in the standard of living, corresponding changes are oen
reected in household contents before changes appear in architecture
(Smith 1987: 302). erefore, consumer products might be a good
indicator of a household’s total wealth (Smith 1987: 306). e ques-
tion that must be asked, then, is which artifact types are indicative
of a change in the auence of a household? e denition of lux-
ury items in the archaeological record is problematic. Pottery vessels
Figure 6. Comparison between area of buildings and number of vessels found
in them.
household activities at tel beersheba 297
in themselves are cheap, common, and available to all (Gill 1988,
1991; Vickers and Gill 1994); historical studies emphasize the lack of
correlation between socioeconomic status and pottery vessels (Kelso
1984: 205–206; Adams and Boling 2000). In some cases, rare imported
objects, which are dicult to obtain, may be considered luxury items.
In Stratum II at Tel Beersheba, most of the small nds were made of
cheap, locally available materials. In any event, an analysis of the spa-
tial distribution of items that may have been imported (such as metal,
faience, or alabaster objects) revealed no signicant pattern.
According to a model based on historical, ethnographic, and socio-
logical data, Smith suggested that the assemblage of vessels used to
serve food is the “most useful class of archaeological artifact for assess-
ing wealth” (Smith 1987: 312). Social and family ceremonies are an
opportunity to display the wealth of the hosting household. In every
social system, wealth and status are associated with the frequency and
character of the household’s “consumption rituals” (a term coined
by Douglas and Isherwood 1979: xxii). A wealthy household tends to
host more oen; its members’ wealth will therefore be expressed in
the number of serving vessels they own. A great variety or diversity of
material goods can be an additional indicator of the economic posi-
tion of the household, as auent households tend to purchase a wider
variety of products (Smith 1987: 319).
In the following discussion, I will attempt to assess the wealth of the
households at Tel Beersheba Stratum II based on the criteria suggested
by Smith: (1) the number of serving and hosting vessels and (2) the
Table 1. e percentage of serving and hosting vessels in the assemblages from dierent
buildings in comparison to the size of the buildings, the number of pottery vessels and the
types of artifacts
Building No. 1441 956 75 76 25 812 770 630 855
Area in m2 33 48 60 65 70 70 80 100 100
Number of pottery
vessels
80 21 97 47 58 52 16 23 181
Number of serving
vessels
30 4 11 9 6 6 4 5 65
Percentage of serving
and hosting vessels
in the pottery
assemblage
37% 19% 11% 19% 10% 11% 25% 21% 36%
Number of dierent
types of artifacts
15 8 10 11 13 8 7 7 23
298 lily singer-avitz
degree of variation in the overall assemblage. Vessels that undoubt-
edly functioned in the serving (and hosting) of food are mainly small
and medium-sized bowls and cups. Jugs were used in certain situa-
tions, although they also served other purposes such as storage and
are therefore not taken into consideration here.
Table 1 shows the percentage of serving and hosting vessels in the
pottery assemblages of several buildings on the tell. Clearly, there is
no correlation between the overall size of the building, the number
of pottery vessels in it, and the percentage of serving vessels within
the assemblage. e percentage of serving vessels in Buildings 25, 75,
and 812 is 10–11%, and 19–25% in Buildings 76, 956, 630, and 770.
In Building 855, which contained 181 vessels over an area of 100 m2,
and in Building 1441, which contained 80 vessels over a small area of
only 33 m2, the percentage of serving vessels was the highest, 36% and
37%, respectively.
e variation of vessel types in the assemblages of the dierent
building, that is to say the number of dierent types, regardless of
vessel quantity, is relatively small, ranging between 14 and 22 dierent
types. A dierent picture emerges from the small, nonpottery artifacts
(see Table 1): while there were usually 7–15 dierent types of nds in
the various buildings, Building 855 contained 23 dierent types of arti-
facts, a much larger variety than was seen in the other buildings. ese
data seem to suggest that Buildings 855 and 1441 “behave” dierently.
Building 1441 contains a relatively high percentage of serving vessels,
but the variety of small nds is only slightly above average. Building
855 is exceptional in that both the relative number of serving vessels
and the variety of small nds are greater than in other buildings; there-
fore, we can suggest that this was a wealthy household.
According to the criteria outlined above, it may be possible to dene
a small number of wealthier domestic buildings, for example Buildings
855 and 1441 in the center of the site. However, as a general rule, the
socioeconomic dierences noted between dierent groups of people
within the population of Tel Beersheba, as reected by household,
were very small. It may be interesting to note that Sasson (2004: 75,
77, 145–148), based on the Stratum II distribution pattern of animal
bones, reached the conclusion that there is no evidence for social hier-
archy in Tel Beersheba.
household activities at tel beersheba 299
Spatial Organization at Tel Beersheba
According to ethnographic models, cross-culturally the basic spatial
organization of preindustrial cities is similar (Sjöberg 1965: 99–100;
Kramer 1983). ese cities are preplanned and include both govern-
ment and domestic structures: they have “central” city squares or
piazzas—not necessarily located in the city’s geographical center—
and government buildings situated close by. Near the latter are the
houses of the wealthier inhabitants—the elite—whose social status is
reinforced by their proximity to the exclusive area of the city. e
buildings further from the “center” belong to the poorer classes who
have been relegated to the city’s edges. e elite, usually 5–10% of the
population, comprises a limited number of families and does not par-
take in physical labor. e occupations of most of the poorer segments
of the population are in agriculture and cras, with cras workshops
integrated into their dwellings. In general, the open or public areas,
i.e., city squares (piazzas), streets, and alleys, as opposed to the built-
up and roofed areas, take up 10–20% of the city’s area. is measure
stands in contrast to villages, where the open/public areas constitute
ca. 30–50% of the village.
Can this model of urban spatial organization be seen at Tel Beer-
sheba? In Stratum II there is a number of public buildings that housed
both economic and administrative functions, which served the inhab-
itants of the city. ese buildings are located near the “central” city
square; one of them (the “Basement Building”) is located in the Cen-
tral Quarter, inside the peripheral street. ese public buildings are
dierent from the domestic buildings in plan, in the eort invested in
their construction, and in the spatial distribution of the nds found
within them. e entire area given over to public buildings (the city
gate, the storehouses, the water system, the “Governor’s Palace,” the
“Basement Building,” and the above-discussed “guesthouse”) reaches
some 2500 m2 (ca. 25% of the city area). e open public areas (the
city square and the streets) reach some 1100 m2 (ca. 10% of the city’s
area). e total area of the domestic quarters (of all types of structures)
is ca. 6500 m2 (ca. 65% of the city area). is allotment of areas in
the planning of the settlement probably indicates social stratication
(Gibbon 1984: 150).
Since the town of Tel Beersheba Stratum II was preplanned and
restricted in area, and the size of the dwelling units was limited,
300 lily singer-avitz
it can be assumed that the family structure was nuclear
8
and build-
ings could not be enlarged to adapt to the needs of an extended fam-
ily. As observed elsewhere, in certain cases, when an extended family
occupies several separate yet adjoining dwelling units, the courtyard,
at least, is shared. is phenomenon, however, was not observed at
Tel Beersheba.
In most of the residential quarters, a similar pattern of production
and consumption activities was discerned. Although some of the resi-
dential buildings are relatively large, in some cases the building size
was determined not by the status of the building’s inhabitants but by
the layout of the street. In Building 76 in the Western Quarter, which
is also a residential building, in addition to the usual domestic activi-
ties, there is evidence for cra specialization in the form of pottery
production. e house of a crasman is further proof that the occu-
pants of this part of the city were of the lower classes.
9
In light of the
fact that many artifacts of iron, bone, and stone were recovered in
Stratum II, it is possible that the workshops of other artisans, such
as blacksmiths, stone masons, leather tanners, and bone carvers were
located in similar buildings. ere is, however, no further evidence
to support this. e three-room buildings in the Northern Quarter,
dened here as domestic consumption units, may have been allotted
to the military. It is possible that there was a population turnover here,
and that, consequently, the usual activities of domestic production
were not performed.
Conclusion
To summarize, focusing on the domestic buildings at Tel Beersheba
Stratum II and analyzing the spatial distribution of the nds found in
these structures enabled me to reconstruct some of the activities that
took place in these houses and to respond to the research questions
that were posed.
8
For the dierences in family structure between the city and the village, see Faust
1999a.
9
According to ethnoarchaeological studies, the social status of male potters was
low because of their low income (Arnold 1985: 196–198).
household activities at tel beersheba 301
1. It was possible to dierentiate between households that functioned as
consumption and production units, which were identied with fam-
ily dwellings, and households that accommodated only consump-
tion activities, whose inhabitants were not necessarily families.
2. e location of productive activities like grinding grain, preparing
food, cooking, spinning, and weaving—all of which are presumed
female activities—could be detected in the houses. Presumed male
activity areas were harder to identify.
3. Based on the nds, it was possible to dene a small number of
wealthier domestic buildings—e.g., Buildings 855 and 1441 in the
center of the settlement. However, as a general rule, only slight
socioeconomic dierences were observed between the domestic
buildings and therefore among the population of the settlement.