Transformations in the Art of Dwelling: some Anthropological Reflections on Neolithic Houses

Abstract

This chapter, by a social anthropologist, seeks to engage with the others in order to offer an anthropological perspective on the debates they raise about Neolithic practices of dwelling. The reader must surely have noted that many of the authors already paid close attention to contemporary ethnography in their search for ideas that can help to add nuance to the archaeological analysis of past societies. This chapter represents a small addition to the ongoing interchange between these two disciplines. The author has a particular research interest in the vernacular architectures of Indonesia, where longhouses also have a special place. She draws upon her fieldwork experience, as well as the archaeological literature on the Austronesian expansion into island Southeast Asia, in search of illuminating parallels regarding aspects of dwelling such as kinship, rituals, the political uses of architecture and the role of the house in social memory.