The household is the smallest social unit in all societies. However, what is a household? How did households operate and which approaches to households are possible in archaeology? By household archaeology do we then mean a study of the dwelling, its structures, material culture and the actions that characterize it, or do we widen the field to include the household as vehicle for creativity, identification, social organization and community?

The aim of this seminar is to present the diverse field of household archaeology through selected theoretical and methodological takes on households, hence touching upon a number of issues: inclusion-exclusion, creativity, dwellings, communities and families. The cross-disciplinary seminar embraces the disciplines of history as well as prehistoric, medieval and historical archaeology with cases ranging from a Bronze Age settlement to Medieval Dwellings, Early Modern communities and renaissance families.

Professor Dr. Joanna Sofaer is the seminar’s lead speaker. She holds a chair in archaeology at the University of Southampton and is a prominent scholar within the subject area of households and the creativity often springing from this particular social entity. She has been excavating long-term at the large Middle Bronze

Age tell settlement of Százhalombatta situated at the bend of the Danube near Budapest. The excavation is carried out jointly with Matrica Museum and Cambridge University and also formed part of the now concluded Forging Identities project coordinated by AU.

See programme here