From Village to Tell: Household Ethnoarchaeology in Syria

Author(s): Kathryn Kamp

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 63, No. 2, Ethnoarchaeology II (Jun., 2000), pp. 84-93
Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210745 .
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I
(Z
Household
Ethnoarchaeology
i n
S yri a
ByKathrynKamp
A A NYNEA REA S TERNA RCHA EOLOGI S T CA NTES TI FY,
the arti facts and archi tecture i nrecent
vi llages
often
resemble the remai ns di scovered i n
prehi stori c
and
early
hi stori csi tes. Whi le these si mi lari ti es
readi ly
suggest
functi onal
i denti fi cati ons,
thei r
relati onshi p
to soci al
organi zati on
i s less obvi ous. Materi al culture has a
complex
i nter-relati onshi p
wi th behavi ors and soci al norms. Onthe one
hand,
as cultural rules are
appli ed
to
people's li ves,
materi al cul-
ture
provi des
areflecti onof soci al ci rcumstances. Onthe other
hand,
i ndi vi duals and
groups mani pulate objects
to i nfluence
soci al condi ti ons and to
i mplementchange.
I n
1980, I
conducted
a
study
of a
S yri anvi llage, Darnaj,
to exami ne
ways
i nwhi ch
household soci o-economi ccharacteri sti cs could be understood
usi ng
arti facts and
archi tecture.1
The
Darnaj
data
clearly
show thatarchi tecture and arti -
facts canbe used to determi ne the soci o-economi ccharacteri sti cs
of household
structure, si ze,
and relati ve wealth i na
li vi ng
soci -
ety.
I ti s more di ffi cultto make si mi lar
i nterpretati ons
of
archaeologi cal si tes,
where
patterns
of di scard and abandon-
ment have altered the
ori gi nal frequenci es, posi ti ons,
and
condi ti ons of the arti facts. To some
extent,
the same i s true
of archi tectural
remai ns; however,
the
Darnaj
materi als
suggest
thati n
archaeologi cal si tes,
archi tecture
may
be amore reli able
reflecti onof household soci o-economi c characteri sti cs than
arti facts,
butthatboth can
provi de i mportant
dues to
past
soci al
organi zati on.
The
S tudy
S i te and Research
S trategy
Darnaj
i s aMusli m A rab
vi llage
of about1500
people,
located
onthe eastbank of the
Euphrates
Ri veri n
S yri a, fai rly
nearthe
I raqi
border. Mostof the
occupants
are farmers who combi ne
i rri gati onagri culture
on
(generally)
small
plots
of land wi th the
herdi ng
of
sheep
and afew
goats.
A bouthalf of the fami li es
supplement
thei rfarm i ncome wi th
wage
labororsmall-
scale
entrepreneuri al acti vi ti es, i ncludi ngrunni ng
asmall
store,
selli ngbui ldi ngsuppli es, acti ng
as ami ddlemanforani mal
sales,
sewi ng,
and
collecti ng
and
selli ng
saltfrom the
i rri gati on
canals.
A few of the mencommute
longer
di stances to
S yri an
ci ti es or
to otherA rab
nati ons, parti cularly
Kuwai tand S audi
A rabi a,
often
stayi ng
for
peri ods
of si x months ormore atati me.
The
ki nshi p system
i s
patri li neal
and much of the
post-
mari tal resi dence i s
patri local.
The manorhi s
fami lypays
a
bri de
pri ce pri or
to the
weddi ng.
I naddi ti onto the bri de
pri ce,
a
large
amountof
money
i s
usuallyexpended
to dowerthe
bri de. The
dowrybelongs exclusi vely
to the bri de and she retai ns
i tshould the
couple
di vorce. Whi le underI slami cand
S yri an
law amani s allowed
up
to fourwi ves atone
ti me, multi ple
wi ves are rare. Partof the reasoni s economi c. I ti s
costly
both
to
marry
and to mai ntai nmore thanone
wi fe, so,
i n
general,
poorer
mencannotafford
multi ple
wi ves. For
some, i deology
also restri cts the numberof wi ves. The
Koran, theyargue,
cau-
ti ons
thatamanmusttreatall hi s wi ves
equally,
atask
i mpossi ble
fornormal men. Mohammed thus meantthat
multi ple
wi ves
were
prohi bi ted
to most. Others
si mply
state thati ti s notmod-
ernto
marry
more thanone wi fe.
Wi th few
excepti ons,
the
Darnaj vi llagers
li ve i nmud-
bri ck houses. Rooms are
arranged
around a
courtyard
and
open
di rectly
i nto i t. The settlement
pattern
i s
di spersed,
wi th
many
of the houses located wi thi nfi eld areas. I thas been
suggested
elsewhere thatsuch a
di spersed
settlement
pattern
tends to be
characteri sti cof
recently
settled nomads whi ch
would, i ndeed,
be consi stentwi th the si tuati onat
Darnaj.
S ome of the fami -
li es i ntervi ewed had
settled
as
recently
as si x
years before,
and
many
sti ll senta
porti on
of the
fami ly
outwi th the herds i n
the
S pri ng
whenfemale ani mals are
lactati ng
and
provi de
mi lk
forthe
producti on
of
yogurt
and cheese. Whenfi eldwork
was conducted i n
1980,
the
vi llage
lacked both
runni ng
water
and
electri ci ty.
The research i n
Darnaj
was ai med at
provi di ng
ani nten-
si ve case
study
of the
relati onshi p
betweendomesti c
archi tecture,
household
belongi ngs
and soci al characteri sti cs such as house-
hold
si ze, composi ti on
and affluence. We
mapped
and
photographed thi rty
household
compounds
and i ntervi ewed
the i nhabi tants aboutthe use of the
compound, garbage
di s-
posal patterns,
and basi chousehold
demographi cs.
The i ni ti al
stage
of
analysi s si mply
exami ned the arti facts i nthe
ongoi ng
cultural
system. Next,
we looked atboth refuse
di sposal
and
the hi stori es of
compound
archi tecture to see
whi ch,
i f
any,
of
thei r
patterns
would sti ll be
i nterpretable
i n
archaeologi cal
remai ns.
I ndi cators of Household S i ze and S tructure
A ddi ti onal rooms are
relati velycheap
and
easy
to bui ld i n
Darnaj,
so mosthouseholds seem to
respond
to the functi onal
needs
i mposed by
household si ze and
composi ti on.
Both new
constructi on and
remodeli ng
are
frequent
acti vi ti es. A ll
materi als
except
woodenroof
beams,
doors and wi ndows are
made
locally.
Fri ends and relati ves
provi de
much of the
labor,
maki ng
constructi oncosts low for
ordi nary
structures. Con-
sequently,
i f ahousehold feels the need forarchi tectural
modi fi cati on, i tcan
usually
afford i t.
The i nclusi onof
multi ple conjugal fami lyuni ts, defi ned as
84
Near
Eastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
TURKEY
A l
Qami shli
37
A leppo
A l Haskah
36
Dayr
az Zawr
Maydi n
Darnaj
35
S YRI A
CA sharah
LEBA NON
34
Damascus -
33
I RA Q
I S RA EL
JORDA NM32
S 100
mi
32
0 100 km
Map showi ng
the locati on
of Darnaj.
ahusband and wi fe
plus
unmarri ed
chi ldren,
ora
wi dow(er)
plus
unmarri ed chi ldren
(Laslett 1972),
i na
si ngle
household
i s one soci al
phenomenongoverned byfai rly
dearrules
spec-
i fyi ngspati al
needs.
Bycustom,
each
conjugal
uni tmust
have a
li vi ng/goods storage
room of i ts ownwhere the wi fe
keeps
her
dowry
and the
fami lyusuallysleeps
and entertai ns
duri ng
the wi nter. Whi le onthe
surface,
the
necessi ty
of a
sep-
arate
li vi ng
room foreach addi ti onal
nuclear
fami lymi ght
be
i nterpreted
as aneed foraddi ti onal
li vi ngspace,
I
suspect
thati ti s more
closely
ti ed to the need to
segregate
dowri es.
S i nce the
dowry
remai ns the
property
of the bri de and wi ll
be hers i nthe eventof a
di vorce,
i tmustbe
keptseparate
from
the
possessi ons
of otherwomeni nthe extended
fami ly
house-
hold. S ome
marri age
contracts
li st
dowry
i tems to
protect
the
bri de should herhusband wantto sell them.
A lso,
awoman
may
lock
up
her
possessi ons
i f she i s to be absentfrom the
compound
fora
longperi od
of ti me. The actual use of the
space occupi ed by
a
conjugal
uni t
may
i nclude
otherhouse-
hold members who tend to walk i nand outat
wi ll,
and
may
evenuse aroom for
entertai ni ng
fri ends and
nei ghbors
i f i ti s
parti cularly i nvi ti ng. Thus,
whi le there i s
only
a
rough
relati onshi p
betweenhousehold si ze and room
area,
the rela-
ti onshi p
betweenthe number of
li vi ng
rooms and the number
of
coresi di ng
nuclear
fami ly
uni ts i s
qui te strong(Kamp
1982, 1993;
Kramer
1979).
A nabundance of certai nhousehold
belongi ngs
also seems
to correlate wi th
multi ple conjugal
uni ts. For
Darnaj,
stati sti -
callysi gni fi cant
i ndi cators are the numberof water
jars,
the
quanti ty
of
pots
and
pans
and the numberof chi nacabi nets.
The
relati onshi p
betweenthe numberof
conjugal
uni ts and
the number of water
jars may
well be
spuri ous,
as i nnone of
the households di d di fferent
conjugal
uni ts mai ntai nand use
separate
water
jars.
The othertwo i tems are both
i mportant
parts
of the
dowry
thatare not
easi ly
brokenand reflect the
presence
of
multi ple
dowri es.
Nevertheless,
the
frequency
of
other
dowry
i tems such as
beddi ng
orbeds di d notcorrelate
well wi th
multi ple
uni ts. Whatdi d
appear
to work well was
the
presence
of
multi ple
sets of
dowryi tems, usuallysegre-
gated
i n
separate
rooms.
NearEastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
85
I Pww I Pww
Pww (3.m)
(3.0m)
Nei ghbor's
Compound
I Pww CDE
(3.0m) oven
-
mli med
floor li medfloor oven
li med
floorF
WUP,
I Pww
UP,
I Pww UP di rt
basi n li med floor
(2.0m)
UP
bawi th
drai en
a
eaUP-
- li med, rai sed about
I OcmI
EP G
I Pww(3.5m)
-I .
(2.0m)
UP
di rtfloor
__a
UP di rtfloor
S ai se
area
A >
Dwelli ngs
i n
Darnaj generally
consi st Pww

break I nwall
of
anumber
of
mudbri ck
rooms openi ng
i nto a (3.5m)
EP UP
UP- '
central courtyard. S tai rs
provi de
access to the A
I Pww UP
(2.Om)
H
u
I Dump
roof
whi ch
provi des space forworki ng dryi ng
li med
floorposthlI
clothi ng
and
vegetables,
and
sleepi ng duri ng
the
summer
ni ghts
wheni ti s cooler than
i nsi de.
H
Numbers i n
parentheses
i ndi cate wall
hei ghts
i n
House
13
meters. Note the low
cei li nghei ghts of ki tchens,
ani mal
rooms
and
haystorage
i n
compari son
to A , B, EGoods storage G
Haystorage
si tti ngs rooms
and
goods storage rooms.
C
Food stotage H Feed stotage 0 m 5
D
S i tti ng I Toi let
F Cooki ng J S hade
\ A
typi cal compound
thatencloses a
F
Cooki ng
__S hade
courtyard provi des
shade
for
summer acti vi ti es
li ke
washi ng
clothes. Note the areas
of plaster
and whi tewash on
porti ons
of
the exteri or walls.
The
fai rly
i nvari able
relati onshi p
betweenarchi tecture and
the numberof
conjugal
uni ts contrasts wi th the
relati onshi p
betweenhousehold si ze and archi tectural features. The exten-
si ve use of exteri orareas for
many
acti vi ti es and alack of concern
for
pri vacy
wi thi nthe
fami ly
uni tmeanthat
large
fami li es need
relati vely
li ttle
addi ti onal
li vi ngspace
oversmallerones. Thi s
i s
especi ally
true whenthe si ze di fferenti al i s due
solely
to chi l-
dren. Chi ldrendo not
requi re speci ali zed space
ormuch addi ti onal
space
for
storage
because thei r
possessi ons
are
usuallyfew.
The
amountof
li vi ngspace per
i ndi vi dual
ranged
from 6 to 58
m2
i nthe
thi rtyDarnaj compounds
I
mapped, suggesti ng
thatthere
are no
strong
cultural norms
speci fyi ng
the amountof
space
needed
per
i ndi vi dual. Thi s means thati twould
defi ni tely
not
be
possi ble
to use astandard value such as Naroll
(1962) sug-
gested,
10 m2
perperson,
to esti mate the
occupancy
of i ndi vi dual
compounds.
Whi le there i s a
si gni fi cantrelati onshi p
between
the numberof
occupants
and the areaof the rooms uti li zed
by
the
i nhabi tants,
i ti s di ffi cultto
predi ctaccurately
the si ze of
i ndi vi dual households
usi ng
archi tectural
space. Despi te thi s,
i twas
generallypossi ble
to
separate
the
verylargest
households
from the smallestonthe basi s of
li vi ngspace.
86 NearEastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
S t0,
c
* .
J
~ ~
i
.
j,
i i
'-
., ,
".
-
,
?.
?
.,.
"".
:?
,k. .c-
~ u ~
?
?
?c-
A Chi na, pots, beddi ngand clothes are amongthe i tems stored i nasi tti ngand goods storage
room.
Rooms li ke thi s one canbe used
forsleepi ngentertai ni ng
and a
vari etyof
otheracti vi ti es i n
addi ti onto
goods storage?
V The i deal
si tti ngroom
i s a
place forentertai ni ng
and contai ns
fewpossessi ons beyond
stacked
rugs
and
pi llows
hi ddeni nwall ni ches. The
rugs
and teasetare i n
use
provi di ng
the
vi si ti ng
ethnographers
wi th
appropri ate hospi tali ty.
o , ..
,
-.r-
-.
.
.-L
.
?
I
S
4/i
O
Goods are anevenless reli able i ndi catorof household si ze.
Only
the numberof
pri mus
stoves and the amountof
beddi ng
correlated
si gni fi cantly
wi th household si ze
i ndependent
of the
relati onshi p
to wealth and the numberof
conjugal
uni ts.
Both have
logi cal explanati ons,
as
cooki ng
fora
greater
num-
berof
people requi res
more faci li ti es and each
personrequi res
acertai namountof
beddi ng.
I ndi cati ons of Household
A ffluence
A s
perhaps
the mostvi si ble
posses-
si onof a
household,
the
dwelli ng
serves
as a
symbol
of i ts
occupants,
commu-
ni cati ngmessages
abouteconomi cand
soci al status. Thus whenahouse i s con-
structed,
both of these factors affect
deci si ons about
si ze,
house
plan,
and con-
structi on
style.
S i nce constructi onalso
entai ls
expendi ture
of
labor, materi als,
and
bui ldi ngspace,
athi rd factorcon-
si dered
by
the bui lders i s the
acceptable
cost
gi ven
avai lable resources. I n
any
i ndi -
vi dual case all three factors i nteract. The
need for
storage space
and
li vi ng
acti vi -
ti es i s
partly
defi ned
by
the numberof
household members and thei rrelati on-
shi ps
to one
another,
buti ti s also modi fi ed
by
status
aspi rati ons
and li mi ted
by
fi nan-
ci al
capabi li ti es.
Thus the
dwelli ng
and
i ts contents
can,
to an
extent,
be
mani p-
ulated to enhance soci al status.
Vi llagers
are
very
aware of status di f-
ferences. WhenI asked
Darnaj
resi dents
to rank thei r
nei ghbors'
affluence ona
scale of one to
four, theyresponded
wi th
alacri ty
and
produced fai rly
consi stent
ranki ngs
thatI could
compare
to the hold-
i ngs
i nland and ani mals
reported by
the
household. Reasons fora
gi venranki ng
were someti mes
expressed
i nterms of
personal
characteri sti cs of the head of the
household such as lazi ness or
pi ety,
but
more
frequently,
as elsewhere i nthe Mi d-
dle East
(Kramer1979;
Watson
19791
were
based
di rectly
oncommunal know-
ledge
of the otherhousehold's land and
ani mals. There was also consensus i nDar-
naj
thata
wealthy
man's house should be
large,
wi th
manyrooms, i ncludi ng
a
sep-
arate
si tti ng
room for
entertai ni ngguests,
dean
and
well-ordered,
and
i ndude expen-
si ve constructi onfeatures such as
pane
glass
wi ndows. A s i tturns out, notall of
these features
really
do
correspond
to di f-
ferences i nhousehold wealth.
Total
compound
si ze and house si ze
are both
si gni fi cantly
correlated wi th
household wealth.
However,
the i ssue i s
compli cated by
the
factthathousehold si ze also correlates wi th house si ze. Fur-
thermore, wealthy
fami li es tend to be
larger,
acommon
phenomenon
i n
many
cultures
(Netti ng1982).
A
multi ple regres-
si oni ndi cates thatthe
relati onshi p
betweenwealth and total
compound
si ze i s
si gni fi cant, i ndependent
of i ntercorrelati ons
wi th household si ze. The
explanati on
forthe
hi gh
correlati on
Near
Eastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
87
I p up I p
S G S
brush pi le
<
The
largest
i 1-.i
'
-
dwelli ng
i nthe
I p upp p up
* up up
sample
was owned
up
up
Uup
bythe
shaykh.
I n
mpup
*hh addi ti onto extensi ve
K
holdi ngs i nland and
brush ani mals,
he had
four A
roofed
M up
shelter wi ves. A s canbe seen
m
dr
hh i n
the
plan,
each
of
the wi ves had a
S t
h
hseparate si tti ng/goods
hh
u p
storage room. The
up up
hh
brush
large
Di wan
at
the
t
F-i
up
south end of the
,
HM
compound
i s used
for
grvel pi le mpup
S mp offi ci al entertai ni ng.
pMup
hh
mpt
3

uP V
Thi s verysmall
K
_hh
__
hdwelli ng
was the
ruonb
home of awi dow,
who was also one
of
I
concrete
S OP the
pooreri ndi vi duals
I m.
h-bench
S
m
i g p
hb
i nthe sample.
wi ndowor A lthough she li ved
alone, she owned no
land and hersons
upup
MPhelped
heroutand
S brought
her
food
H
p
c up
0
m
5
House 8 courtyard
low-
brush
clay
roofed i
bench
shelter dump F S
*
1p
A A
mp
hole mp
up up T
mp mpup
lp
K
T
brush
fence mp
H:
mp
-
2ni che
hearth stai rs S S i tti ngroom brs brush roofed shelter
G Goods storage ws watershelter
lbread
oven
F Food storage dr dryi ngrock
I hole ladder
K Ki tchen hh henhouse
H Hayorgrai nstorage t trough
wood post A A ni mals
D Di wan pl li me plaster
door
pi geon W Wash room mp mud plaster
coops on up unplastered
wi ndow
walls
88 NearEastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
Now
..
,,
A 4.
I L
L - UT
Thi s ki tchenwas once a
li vi ngroom
as canbe seen
by
the ni che and the
plastered walls
Ki tchens
are
uti li tyrooms
and are
usuallyunplastered
wi th low
quali ty
and someti mes less than
standi ng
hei otcei li ngs.
between
compound
si ze and affluence i s
probably
ti ed to land
pri ces. Darnaj
i s
di spersed
and land
fai rlyavai lable,
hence Dar-
naj compounds are,
onthe
whole, qui te spaci ous.
Butland i s
also
reasonablyexpensi ve. Furthermore, Darnaj compounds
are located i nfi eld
areas,
so thatthe land devoted to
li vi ngspace
i s
effecti vely
deducted from the total underculti vati on. For
large
landholders thi s i s no
problem,
butforthose wi th
only
small
parcels
of
land,
i ti s
advantageous
to culti vate as much as
possi ble, maki ngverylarge compounds
a
luxury.
S everal of the
ethnoarchaeologi cal
studi es from I rancorroborate the noti on
that
hi gh
land
pri ces plus
the cultural i deal of a
large compound
make
compound
si ze correlate
reasonably
well wi th economi c
status
(Kramer1979, 1982;
Watson
1979).
I ti s also acommonasserti onboth
byDarnaj vi llagers
and
ethnographers (i ncludi ng
Kramer
1982;
Watson
1978;
S weet
1960;
and
S ti rli ng1965:21),
thata
separate si tti ng
room used
pri mari ly
for
entertai ni ng
and notfor
goods storage
i s ani ndi -
cati onof affluence. Thi s
theoreti cally
reflects
both a
greater
responsi bi li ty
for
hospi tali ty
and a
greaterabi li ty
to
pay
con-
structi oncosts. I n
reali ty,
a
compari son
of
capi tal
worth between
those who Kramer
(1982:119)
li sts as
havi ng
extra
li vi ng
rooms wi th those who do notreveals a
sli ght,
butnotstati s-
ti callysi gni fi cant, tendency
forthose wi th the addi ti onal rooms
to be more affluent. A much
strongerrelati onshi p
i s thatmen-
ti oned earli erbetween
si tti ng
rooms and numberof
co-resi di ng
nuclear
uni ts. Thi s same si tuati oni s true of
Darnaj. Why
i s the
presence
of addi ti onal
si tti ng
rooms nota
good
i ndi catorof
wealth?
I
suspect
the answerli es i nthe
relati vely
low costof
room
constructi on,
whi ch makes i t
possi ble
formosthouse-
holds to bui ld anextraroom i f
they
need to orso desi re.
Vari abi li ty
i nconstructi onmateri als and
techni ques
and
house
styles may, accordi ng
to
Darnaj
resi dents, also be i ndi cati ve of economi c
status.
A gai n,
whetherornotthi s i s true
and forwhi ch features, seems to be a
matterof relati ve
expense.
Elsewhere
i nthe Near
East,
wall constructi onmate-
ri als (A rmstrong
and
Hi rabayashi 1956:426;
A shkenazi
1938:121; Lutfi yya1966:19;
S weet
1960:114, 115),
wall fi ni shes
(Gal-
loway1958:362;
Watson
1979:292),
roof
styles (Hodges 1972:526;
Guli ck
1955:34,
35;
S weet
1960:113), floor
type (Leach
1940:49; Hansen1961:25;
WMtson 1979:282),
as well as the
quali ty
of floormai nte-
nance
(Kramer1979:148),
and the use
of
pane glass
wi ndows
(Leach 1940:49;
Chri stensen
1967:96;
Watson
1978:134)
are all sai d to
vary
i n
proporti on
to afflu-
ence. Li ttle
quanti fi ed
datai s
presented,
howeve; and mostof the asserti ons
appear
to be based onthe
reports
of
vi llagers.
I n
Darnaj
these di d not
prove very
reli -
able.
Despi te
local
stereotypes,
none of
these features was i ndi cati ve of affluence
(Kamp 1982, 1987).
I nthe tradi ti onal mud-
bri ck
archi tecture,
none of the more desi rable constructi on
fi ni shes were
especi allyexpensi ve.
The most
costlyi mprove-
mentto the mudbri ck house was
glass wi ndows,
and there was
a
sli ghttendency
forthese to be found more
frequently
i n
the homes of the more affluent.
I n1980 almostall of the rooms i n
Darnaj
were constructed
of mudbri ck. Concrete block had
recently
beeni ntroduced
to the areaand was vi ewed as a
very
desi rable and
presti -
gi ous
constructi onmateri al. The costof aconcrete block room
i s 10 to 15 ti mes thatof amudbri ck
structure, maki ng
them
expensi ve.
Thus i twould seem thatconcrete block orother
verycostly
constructi on
techni ques mi ght
be a
good
i ndi cati on
of affluence. The one concrete block house i n
myDarnaj
sam-
ple belonged
to one of the
wealthi er,
but
by
no means the
wealthi est,
household.
I nthe Mi ddle Eastas i nthe
U.S ., people
are well aware of
status
di fferences,
and i ti s
possi ble
to demonstrate one's afflu-
ence
through conspi cuous consumpti on.
S i nce the
dwelli ng
compound
i s a
very
vi si ble
symbol
of the
household,
thi s i s one
obvi ous
place
where wealth canbe
di splayed. Unfortunately,
thi s does notmeanthatthere i s a
si mple
and consi stentrela-
ti onshi p
betweenwealth and house features. The wealthi est
households are
economi callycapable
of
di splayi ng
thei r
hi gher
status
through
thei r
houses, yet
notall of them do so. S ome
i nvesti n
land, ani mals,
and other
capi tal property
i nstead. The
ri chest
may
feel secure
enough
i nthei rwealth and stature i n
the
communi ty
that
they
have less need to
vi si bly
demonstrate
i t. Onthe other
hand,
less
wealthy
fami li es who wi sh to
augment
thei r
standi ng
i nthe
communi ty
cando so
byattempt-
i ng
to
li ve
up
to local
i mages
of affluence.
Many
of the features
associ ated wi th the i deal
compound-thi ngs
li ke
well-plastered
Near
Eastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
89
rooms,
a
separate si tti ng
room and so
forth-are notso
expensi ve
that
they
can-
notbe
purchased by
less affluentmembers
of the
communi ty. Thus,
some success-
fullymani pulate
the
system
of local
stereotypes
to enhance thei rown
i mage
(Kamp 1982, 1987).
Thi s means that
only
those
components
of the "i deal"
dwelli ng
compound
thatare i n
reali ty
too
expen-
si ve formostto afford are
good
i ndi cators
of economi cstatus.
No household
possessi ons
correlated
si gni fi cantly
wi th household wealth i nde-
pendent
of correlati ons wi th household
si ze and numberof
conjugal
uni ts. S ev-
eral of the
objects
I recorded
mi ghtquali fy
as status
objects. Large
metal chi nacab-
i nets,
metal
beds, sewi ngmachi nes,
and
bi cycles
are all rare and
expensi ve i tems,
yet
none of them i ndi cate wealth i nDar-
naj.
Both
large
metal chi nacabi nets and
metal beds are
usually acqui red
as
parts
of
dowri es,
buti n1980 both were
also
fai rly
recentaddi ti ons to household
goods
i nrural
S yri a. Thus,
there i s aten-
dency
fora
large
metal chi nacabi netto
suggest
a
fai rly
recent
marri age.
Redun-
dancy
i nchi nacabi nets
suggests
the
presence
of
multi ple
nuclear uni ts.
Multi ple
metal
beds, however,
does not.
Perhaps
thi s i s because the beds are abi t
rarerthanthe chi nacabi nets. Nei ther
sewi ng
machi nes nor
bi cycles
i ndi cate
wealth ei ther. Thi s
may
be because both
of these arti facts have auti li tari ancom-
ponent. S ewi ngmachi nes,
i n
parti cular,
are oftenatool used to
augment
the
fam-
i ly
i ncome.
A lthough
I
suspect
that
jewelry
mi ght
have correlated betterwi th house-
hold
wealth,
si nce i nrural
S yri a
i ti s often
looked atas ameans of
i nvestment,
I di d
not
attempt
to
i nventoryjewelry.
The
i mpli cati on
of thi s
study
i s thatthe
archaeologi st
look-
i ng
forarchi tectural i ndi ces of relati ve wealth should look for
features thatare
expensi ve enough
so that
they
cannotbe
i ndulged
i n
by
all households.
Unfortunately,
the si tuati oni s
A A cowresi des i nwhatwas once afancyli vi ngroom wi th arches.
<
Courtyards
are
regularly swept
clean.
> The
floorof
anani mal room i s li ttered wi th trash and
objects
i n
"provi si onal
di scard,"
whi ch
may
be reclai med
for
use atalaterti me.
90 NearEastern
A rchaeology
63:2
(2000)
not
qui te
thi s
strai ghtforward,
si nce
among
some
groups
di f-
ferences i nwealth are
de-emphasi zed. Mayavi llagers
who
espouse
an
egali tari an
ethi cand
denyvari abi li ty
i nwealth
pro-
vi de acase i n
poi nt (Hayden
and Cannon
1984;
Wi lk
1982).
They
tend to
spend
less on
luxury
i tems thanthei reconomi c
status would allowand consume less
conspi cuously. Dwelli ngs,
si nce
they
are
potenti ally very
vi si ble demonstrati ons of
strati fi cati on,
are
keptfai rly
uni form
throughout
the commu-
ni ty,
whi le
money
i s
spent
on
possessi ons
li ke
radi os, cooki ng
i mplements,
and
guns,
whi ch canbe stored
away
from
pub-
li cvi ew.
The Effectof Di scard and
OtherFormati onProcesses
I n
archaeologi cal si tes,
most of the arti facts are
garbage
deposi ted
ei theroutsi de
bui ldi ngs
ori nabandoned structures.
Evenarchi tecture
undergoes processes analogous
to di scard
as
bui ldi ngs age
and the
ori gi nal
functi ons are
replaced by
oth-
ers,
unti l the structure i s
fi nally
di smantled orleftto
decay.
Therefore, archaeologi cal
remai ns cannot
si mply
be
analyzed
as i f
they
were i n
place
i nan
ongoi ng
cultural
system.
A nexam-
i nati onof the di fferent
ways
thatarchi tecture and arti facts are
treated
suggests
thatarchi tectural remai ns wi ll reflectthei r
soci al contextmuch more
accurately
than
arti facts,
and
should,
thus,
be betteri ndi cators of household soci o-economi cchar-
acteri sti cs.
I n
Darnaj,
di fferenti al
breakage
and an
emphasi s
onreuse
and
recycli ng
meanthatdi scarded
objects
di fferi n
frequency
from those i na
li vi ngsystem. Furthermore,
refuse
di sposal pat-
terns tend to scatter
garbage
overwi de
areas,
ratherthan
concentrati ng
i ti nadi screte locale associ ated wi th a
si ngle
household. A s i n
many
areas around the world
(Horne 1983,
1994; Hayden
and Cannon
1983; S i egel
and Roe
1986; Chang
1988, 1991;
S utro
1991),
the
Darnaj vi llagers
fi nd
secondary
uses
for
many
of thei rdi scards. Food refuse i s fed to the ani mals.
Paper
and othercombusti bles are burned i nthe bread oven.
Cloth
scraps
are used for
rags,
bottle
stoppers, patches,
orto
produce rugs.
Glass
bottles
are saved forreuse. Old bed frames
canbe used as
dryi ng
racks. Even
plasti c
shoes canbe traded
to ani ti nerant
peddler
i n
exchange
forold calendar
pi ctures.
Other
objects
forwhi ch no i mmedi ate use canbe found
may
be
si mplykept
around the house forfuture
needs,
i nwhat
Hay-
denand Cannon
(1983)
call
"provi si onal
di scard."
Li ttle i s wasted.
Fewusable i tems reach the
garbage dump. Consequently,
the
quanti ty
of refuse i s farless thanthe numberof
objects
owned
by
the
average
household
mi ghtsuggest.
Furthermore, di scarded
objects
are
by
no means arandom
or
representati ve sample
of the
objects
i nuse. More valuable
i tems are
recycled
or
keptlonger
thanless valuable ones. Value
here mustbe assessed not
only
i nabsolute terms, butalso i n
terms of
replaceabi li ty.
Thus
goods
thatare harderto obtai n
are
keptlonger.
A homemade i tem wi ll be di scarded more read-
i ly.
Thi s means that, whi le
outwardly
si mi lari nfuncti on, the
glass bottle
of
today
thati s notmade athome i s not
compa-
rable i nvalue to the
pottery
of some ti me
past,
whi ch
may
have
been
di spensed
wi th more
readi ly.
Patterns of di scard also confuse the i ssue.
Objects
are often
not di scarded ei theri ndi screte refuse
di sposal
areas ornear
thei r
place
of use or
ownershi p.
Whi le mosthouseholds use
a
nearby
abandoned room oratrash mound forsome of
thei r
garbage,
much refuse does not
go
i nto the
dump.
S ome
i s
si mply
tossed overthe
courtyard wall,
scattered i n
nearby
fi elds or
adjacentroads,
throwni nto the
Euphrates,
orbecomes
embedded i n
courtyard
surfaces orthe di rtfloors of rooms.
Li ke
objects,
rooms also canbe
reused, recycled,
and ulti -
mately
di scarded.
Darnaj
resi dents esti mated the use-li fe of a
mudbri ck
compound
as
thi rty
to
fi ftyyears.
Thi s
corresponds
well wi th
S parks' (1951)
esti mates of the
length
of ti me thata
mudbri ck structure canwi thstand the elements i nanari d envi -
ronment. The
compounds
I
sampled ranged
i n
age
from three
to
approxi matelyfortyyears.
S ometi mes a
compound
i s demol-
i shed and
totally
rebui lt. The
salvageable mudbri ck, doors,
and
roof beams are
reused,
whi le the
remai ni ng
mudbri ck i s leftto
decay
i nthe fi eld. Whi le i n
use,
the
compound
i s also i nastate
of flux. Rooms are
bui lt, remodeled,
ortorndown. Outmoded
li vi ng
rooms become ani mal
rooms; di lapi dated
ki tchens become
hay
rooms. I n
general, changes
i nroom functi onare
predi ctable.
There i s a
hi erarchy
of room
functi ons,
and
changes
i nroom
use
usually
i nvolve afuncti onal
degradati on. Thus,
whi le ali v-
i ng
room canbecome a
ki tchen,
aki tchencanneverbecome
a
li vi ng
room.
Often, changes
i nroom functi onare archaeo-
logi callydi scernable,
i f archi tectural
features, changes
due to
remodeli ng,
and wear
patterns
onwalls and floorare
carefully
analyzed.
Conclusi ons
The evi dence from
Darnaj
and other
comparati ve
case stud-
i es
stronglysuggests
thatsoci o-economi ccharacteri sti cs of the
household such as household
structure, si ze,
and affluence are
di rectly
reflected i nboth the archi tecture of the house and the
possessi ons
owned
by
i ts
occupants. Theoreti cally
thi s should
make i t
possi ble
to di scernthese vari ables fori ndi vi dual house-
holds; however,
to
getreasonably
accurate
predi cti ons
of ei ther
household si ze or
wealth,
i ti s
necessary
to settle for
verygross
deli neati ons betweenthe extreme cases and the restof the
pop-
ulati on.
Thus for
Darnaj
there are three
compounds
thatare much
larger
thanthe rest. Two of these are i ndeed the wealthi esti n
the
vi llage.
The thi rd ranks i nthe
top fi ve,
butowns the sec-
ond largest
flock of ani mals and i s
probably upwardly
mobi le, as the head i s
very
acti ve i n
vi llage poli ti cs
and
espe-
ci ally
i nthe
government-backed agri cultural cooperati ve.
I f i ti s true thatone can
i denti fy
the wealthi esti nhabi tants
but
probably
notdi fferenti ate betweenthe
poor
and
average
i ncommuni ti es where wealth di fferences are
culturallyempha-
si zed, what
happens
whendi fferences are
de-emphasi zed,
as
among
some modern
Mayagroups?
The news i s
opti mi sti c
Whi le the
type
of attri butes thatcanbe used to
predi ct
wealth
may
be di fferent, the net
predi cti ve
value i s
si mi lar, accordi ng
to
Hayden
and Cannon
(1984:135),
who state that"archaeo-
logi cally,
one
mi ght
be
justi fi ed
i n
i denti fyi ng
households wi th
extreme materi al i ndi cati ons of wealth as
'verywealthy'."
I n
Near
Eastern A rchaeology
63:2 (2000) 91
soci eti es wi th a
strongegali tari anethi c,
mi si denti fi cati ons
may
be di fferentfrom those i nareas where soci al
aspi rati ons
di c-
tate
conspi cuous
wealth
consumpti on.
Compari ng
the di stri buti ons of the
compound
areas i nDar-
naj
wi th those of the I rani an
vi llages
of A li abad
(Kramer1979,
1982)
and Hasanabad
(Watson1987, 1979),
some
i nteresti ngpat-
terns
emerge
thatvali date the
uti li ty
of
usi ng
vari ables li ke
compound
areaas a
rough
economi c
i ndex. The di stri bu-
ti ons of
compound
si ze i n
Darnaj
and A li abad have si mi lar
shapes,
both wi th several outli ers
correspondi ng
to the wealth-
i esti ndi vi duals.
A verage compound
areai s much
greater
i n
Darnaj, however, probablyreflecti ng
the
di spersed layout
of
the
vi llage
and hence the relati ve
avai labi li ty
of
bui ldi ng
land.
A
glance
atA li abad and Hasanabad reveals thatmost of the
dwelli ngcompounds
i nboth
li e
between20 and 400
m2, smaller
thanthe
Darnaj compounds
but
comparable
to one another.
Thi s i s not
surpri si ng, gi ven
that
they
are both
agglomerated
vi llages. Hasanabad, however,
lacks
anyverylarge compounds.
Thi s lack of
outli ers
may
reflecta
sli ghtly
more
egali tari an
vi llage economy
thanthatfound at
A li abad, perhaps
because
all the Hasanabad resi dents are
sharecroppers,
and none
ownthei rownland
(Watson1979),
whi le A li abad and
Darnaj
both i nclude landowners as well as
sharecroppers. Thus,
the
avai lable cross-cultural materi al onthe
i nterpretati on
of domes-
ti carchi tecture
suggests
that
many
of the
regulari ti es
observed
for
Darnaj may,
i n
fact,
be relevantforother
settlements.
A si mi larsi tuati oni s true of the
i nterpretati on
of movable
household
belongi ngs.
I n
Darnaj, objects
were notas
strong
i ndi cators of soci al
patterns
atthe household level as domes-
ti carchi tecture. Redundantsets of certai n
dowry
i tems were
a
fai rly
reli able
predi ctor
of
multi ple coresi di ngconjugal uni ts,
butthere were no arti facts thatcorrelated
consi stently
wi th
ei therhousehold si ze orwealth
among
the
types
of
posses-
si ons exami ned.
A gai n, parallels
wi th the modern
hi ghland
Maya(Hayden
and Cannon
1984) suggest
thatthi s i s notan
i solated
phenomenon.
I f i ti s true thathousehold characteri sti cs canbe di scerned
i n
ongoi ngsystems merelybyanalyzi ng
the materi al
world,
thi s does not
necessari ly
mean that the same ki nd of
analysi s
canbe used
by
the
archaeologi st,
who musttake i nto
account
complex patterns
of
reuse, recycli ng,
and
di scard,
whi ch
may
skewboth the
frequency
of
objects
and thei r
posi -
ti oni n
space.
Once
objects
are i n
archaeologi cal
rather
than
systemi ccontext,
archi tecture
appears
to be amuch
betteri ndi catorof soci o-economi c vari ables than
portable
objects.
A rchi tectural uni ts have a
hi story,
and
although they
are noti mmune to
changes
i nfuncti onorto abandonment
processes
thatare
analogous
to di scard, they
are
spati ally
defi ned and i ti s therefore easi erto
i denti fy
them wi th a
spe-
ci fi cresi denti al uni t. Furthermore, although
structures
change
atdi fferentrates, i ti s often
possi ble
to
i denti fy
the
parts
of
anarchi tectural uni ti n
contemporaneous
use. Wi th
regard
to
objects however, reconstructi ng
the enti re sui te of
pos-
sessi ons forahousehold atone moment i nti me from the
archaeologi cal
record i s
usually
an
i mpossi ble
task.
Thus,
domesti carchi tecture
provi des
amuch more stable and read-
able i ndex of soci o-economi ccharacteri sti cs thanhousehold
possessi ons.
Note
1
The i ni ti al fi eld research i nthe summerof
1980,
and di ssertati on
wri ti ng
were
parti allysupported bygrants
from the
Uni versi ty
of A ri zona. I
would li ke to
express myappreci ati on
to all the
S yri ans
who made our
stay
so
pleasurable, especi ally
the resi dents of
Darnaj
and
nearbycA sh5rah.
I twould nothave been
possi ble
to conductthe research wi thout the assi s-
tance of members of the
Department
of
A nti qui ti es
and Museums of the
S yri an
A rab
Republi c. S peci al
thanks
go
to Dr. A fi f
Bahnassi ,
Dr. Kassi m
Touei r,
and Dr. A s>ad Mahmoud.
John
Whi ttakerand A hmed S ali h al
Toufi q
compri sed
the data
recordi ng
team and anumberof scholars have read
earli erversi ons of thi s
work, i ncludi ngJohnWhi ttaker,
Constance
Croni n,
Wi lli am
Longacre,
and NormanYoffee.
Bi bli ography
A rmstrong,
L. and
Hi rabayashi ,
G. K.
1956 S oci al Di fferenti ati oni nS elected Lebanese
Vi llages.
A meri canS oci -
ologi cal
Revi ew
21:425-34.
A shkenazi ,
T.
1938 Tri bus semi -nomades de laPalesti ne du Nord. Pari s: Paul Geuttner.
Chang,
C.
1988
Nauyali k
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NEA R
EA S TERN
......CHA EOL
GY
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A rchaeology
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