Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Despite the ethnographic importance of the Southeast Asian house and household, an explicitly Southeast Asian "household archaeology" is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, archaeologists in Southeast Asia have undertaken excavations within habitation areas and residential spaces, identifying domestic debris, the partial remains of house structures, and activity areas. As a result, archaeologists of Southeast Asia have addressed many topics of relevance to those who use a household archaeology approach, including the identification and description of houses and household activities; the domestic economy; domestic ritual; diversity and variability both within houses as related to questions of identity, specifically gender and age, and between houses, especially as related to status; and identification of supra-household communities. In this review, I consider how archaeologists have addressed these themes using examples from a diverse set of geographic locations and time periods in mainland and island Southeast Asia. I conclude with suggestions for future research directions to continue building an archaeology of residential spaces and communities in Southeast Asia.

Prasat and Pteah: Habitation within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure

“…4) (Népote, 2002;Tainturier et al, 2006;Waterson, 1997;Zhou, 2007). This makes part of the living space archaeologically invisible and challenges archaeologists who study residential spaces working in Southeast Asia (see review in Carter, 2022) and elsewhere across the tropical world. The poor preservation conditions of organic remains are also a factor when studying residential spaces and associated activity areas in the tropics, as are issues with human, plant, animal, and insect bioturbation (Bâty et al, 2014;Castillo et al, 2020;Graham, 1996).…”

Archaeometallurgical record as tool to preserve architectural heritage information in Malaga, Spain

“…From an archaeological point of view, concentrating focus on material culture produced by elite social segments implies an interpretive distortion of past societies, undermining the inclusive view required to understand culture integrally. In fact, a great amount of data on daily life can be inferred from domestic contexts (Steadman, 1996;Carpenter & Prentiss, 2022;Carter, 2022). When seen as this, homes represent not only the visual or volumetric connective tissue in historical contexts.…”