Round House or Square? Architectural Form and Socio-Economic Organization in the PPNB

Authors

  • Benjamin Adam Saidel Harvard University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v6i1.65

Keywords:

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, PPNB, architecture, socioeconomics, curvilinear, rectilinear

Abstract

Anticipated mobility, agriculture and increased personal wealth initiated a change in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. This change is made manifest in the transition from curvilinear to rectilinear architecture by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. It is argued that the combined affect of anticipated mobility, agricultural intensification and craft specialization ultimately changed the mode of production and the social organization within PPNB agricultural villages. The impact of these features upon family structure is seen in the establishment of nuclear households and the use of rectilinear architecture.

Author Biography

  • Benjamin Adam Saidel, Harvard University
    Benjamin Adam Saidel graduated cum laude from Brandeis University with a BA in Classical and Oriental Studies. He received an MTS from Harvard Divinity School where he studied Hebrew Bible and Syro-Palestinian archaeology. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. He has participated in archaeological fieldwork in Cyprus and Israel. His research interests include the emergence of pastoralism in the Near East and the social organisation of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages of Southwest Asia.

Published

1993-06-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Saidel, B. A. (1993). Round House or Square? Architectural Form and Socio-Economic Organization in the PPNB. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 6(1), 65-108. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v6i1.65