Using Practice Theory to Infer Household Behaviors at Islamic Ashkelon

Summary

The contents of archaeological features targeted for the recovery of botanical remains, such as hearths, ovens, pits, and floor surfaces, are more often than not the cumulative residue of multiple episodes of cooking, cleaning, or other activities that deposit and preserve plant parts. The actions responsible for this deposition can be illuminated when the patterns within the assemblage are interpreted within the framework of practice theory, which is well-suited for such applications due to its emphasis on studying repeated behaviors and relating them to wider cultural practices. While practice theory can guide meaningful interpretations across multiple scales of analysis, in this paper I apply it to the level of household in my interpretation of the charred macrobotanical remains collected from the Islamic occupation levels at Ashkelon, a multi-period tell located on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Israel.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Archaeoethnobotany and Household Contexts

Keywords

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