Burning the House: The Importance of Excavation Methods in the Study of Space and Place in the Neolithic Household. A Case Study from Neolithic Bulgaria (6500–600 BC)

Summary

The importance of understanding the use of space and the distribution of places in the household in the prehistoric setting has been recognized by the anthropological community. Unfortunately the archaeological context often does not always favor such inquiries, especially in the prehistoric setting. Thus, the extraction of information needed to make claims on how different societies distributed living areas in the house and in the greater village, can not always be examined in detail. For the purpose of this paper, I will examine how the sites of the Early Neolithic (6500-6000 BC) villages of sites such as Slatina and Mursalevo in Bulgaria can contribute greatly to these questions. The ritual burning of the houses from these communities, and the particularities the excavation of these houses require can contribute greatly to how archaeologists approach the first step of data collecting: excavating. I will argue that the particularities in excavation methodology are the most important step in understanding what the house was like and what role in had in prehistoric people's lives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22512