The Social archaeology of houses

About this book

This book deals with the problems that are encountered by archaeologists when reconstructing social history from domestic architecture. Often faced with little more than the remains of foundations or, at best, 'mute' houses, archaeologists have adopted social theories drawn from architects and sociologists. Such theories are here applied in a series of case studies which cover examples taken from ancient and modern housing. All the main schools of social theory are covered, including feminism, marxism, structuralism and structuration theory. The ideas developed by Henry Glassie, Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson are also explored.