Ideal Homes: Domestic Materiality and Past Identities

The purpose of archaeology is to reconstruct and present the past as it was lived, warts and all. Too often that ideal has been restricted to the affairs and structures of the great and (often not so) good, ignoring what happened after the battles were won or lost. Everyday life carried on for the vast majority of people who cooked, built walls and fences, herded and tended animals, and made pottery, metal tools and foodstuffs. Each of these domestic tasks required tools and equipment, and each object tells a story of the user's identity, both regional and personal.

This volume presents a selection of worldwide studies of domestic objects and lives, from Scottish ceramics to Mayan urban zones. Each of these chapters demonstrate the commonalities humans share when there is 'no place like home', enhancing archaeological knowledge of the realities of life in the past.