The origins of house and home?

Abstract Excavations in course at the site of Qermez Dere in north Iraq have revealed a stratified sequence dating from the end of the epi‐palaeolithic period into the earliest centuries of the early neolithic. A sequence of subterranean houses belonging in the latter part of that time‐span (8250–7900 bc) is remarkable for the elaborate care and effort spent on their construction, maintenance and demolition/replacement. Each house was kept very clean, and there is a distinct lack of debris and even the equipment of everyday life. Each house was equipped with one or more non‐structural clay pillars. At the end of the series six weathered human crania were placed on the floor of the last house as it was being obliterated. These very early neolithic houses are contrasted with those of the preceding epi‐palaeolithic of the Levant, and it is suggested that they represent an important change in the perception of the house as home and the focus of attitudes and activities of symbolic social significance concerned with the conservation of property and the continuity and solidarity of the owning family.