Abstract
Postprocessual archaeology has placed great importance on individuals and social interaction, though in practice this often proves a difficult project to realize. The rich archaeological and cultural data offered in an Egyptian context suggest that it is possible to identify how specific individuals and groups functioned with a domestic context, taking into account the complex vectors of social inequality—age, sex, class, status, and life experience. In the process, this paper seeks to question the narrow construal ofgender as analogous to the domain of women, and show the inadequacies of such an approach. It offers an opportunity to mesh material culture with social theory by linking sociocultural, spatial, and temporal data.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References Cited
Alexander, C. (1992).Roles and Relations in the Symbolic Organisation of Domestic Space, M. Phil. thesis Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Anthes, R. (1943). Die deutschen Grabungen auf der Westseite von Theben in den Jahren 1911–1913.Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 12(1): 1–72.
Atiya, N. (1984)Khul-Khal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories, American University Press, Cairo.
Attir, M. O. (1985). Ideology, value changes, and women's social position in Libyan society. In Fernea, E. W. (ed.)Women and the Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change, University of Texas Press, Austin, pp. 121–133.
Baines, J. (1991) Society, morality and religious practice. In Shafer, B. E. (ed.),Religion in Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, pp. 123–200.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994)The Location of Culture, Routledge, London.
Blackman, A. M. (1926). Oracles in ancient Egypt II.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 12: 176–185
Blanton, R. E. (1994).Houses and Households: A Comparative Study, Plenum Press, New York.
Bonnet, C., and Valbelle, D. (1975). Le village de Deir el Médineh reprise de l'étude archéologique.Bulletin de l'Institut Francçais d'Archéologie Orientale 75: 429–446.
Bonnet, C., and Valbelle, D. (1976). Le village de Deir el Médineh.Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 76: 317–342.
Borghouts, J. F. (1982). Divine intervention in ancient Egypt and its manifestation (b3w). In Demarée, R. J., and Janssen, J. J. (eds.),Gleanings from Deir el Medina, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. Leiden, pp. 1–70.
Bourdieu, P. (1977).Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Bourdieu, P. (1979).Algeria 1960, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Bruyère, B. (1923). Fragment de fresque de Deir el Médineh,Bulletin l'Institut Français D'Archéologie Orientale du Caire 22: 121–133.
Bruyère, B. (1939).Rapport sur les Fouilles de Deir el Médineh (1934–1935), Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo.
Butler, J. (1993).Bodies that Matter On the Discursive Limits of “Sex,” Routledge, New York.
Butler, J. (1997).Excitable Speech, Routledge, New York.
Černý, J. (1929). Papyrus Salt 124 (Brit. Mus. 10055).Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15: 243–258.
Černý, J. (1973).A Community of Workmen at Thebes in the Ramesside Period Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo.
Crocker, P. T. (1985). Status symbols in the architecture of el-'Amarna.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 71: 52–65.
Demarée, R. J. (1983). The {ie241-1} Stelae: On Ancestor Worship in Ancient Egypt, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten te Leiden, Leiden.
Douglas, M. (1966).Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, Routledge, London.
Elam, D. (1994).Feminism and Deconstruction: Ms. en Abyme, Routledge, London.
Eyre, C. J. (1984). Crime and adultery in ancient Egypt.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 70: 92–105.
Eyre, C. J. (1992). The adoption papyrus in social context.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 78: 207–221.
Fletcher, R. J. (1975).Space in Settlements: A Mechanism of Adaption, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Fraser, N. (1995). Pragmatism, feminism, and the linguistic turn. In Benhabib, S., Butler, J., Cornell, D., and Fraser, N. (ed.)Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange, Routledge, New York, pp. 157–171.
Friedman, F. A. (1994). Aspects of domestic life and religion. In Lesko, L. H. (ed.)Pharaoh's Workers. The Villagers of Deir el Medina, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp. 95–117.
Game, A. (1995). Time, space, memory, with reference to Bachelard. In Featherstone, M., Lash, S., and Robertson, R. (ed.)Global Modermities Sage. London, pp. 192–208.
Gatens, M. (1996).The Imaginary Body, London, Routledge.
Janssen, J. J. (1982). Two personalities. In Demarée, R. J., and Janssen, J. J. (ed.),Gleanings from Deir el Medina, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden, pp. 109–131.
Janssen, J. J., and Janssen, R. M. (1990).Growing up in Ancient Egypt, Rubicon Press, London.
Kemp, B. J. (1977). The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt,World Archaeology 9: 124–139.
Kemp, B. J. (1979). Wall paintings from the workmen's village at el-Amarna.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 65: 47–53.
Kemp, B. J. (1980). Prelimiary report on the El-'Amarna expedition 1979.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 66: 5–16.
Knapp, A. B., and Meskell, L. M. (1997). Bodies of evidence in prehistoric Cyprus.Cambridge Archaeological Journal.7(2): 183–204.
Lane, E. W. (1989) [1836].Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, East-West Publications, The Hague, London.
Leone, M. (1984). Interpreting ideology in historical archaeology: using rules of perspective in the William Paca garden in Annapolis, Maryland. In Miller, D., and Tilley, C. (ed.),Ideology, Power and Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 25–28.
Loose, A. A. (1992). Woonhuizen in Amarna en het domein van de vrouwen.Phoenix 38(2): 16–29.
McDowell, A. G. (in press).Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Meskell, L. M. (1994). Deir el Medina in hyperreality: Seeking the people of pharaonic Egypt.Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 7(2): 193–216.
Meskell, L. M. (1996). The somatisation of archaeology: institutions, discourses, corporeality.Norwegian Archacological Review 29(1): 1–16.
Meskell, L. M. (1997).Egyptian Social Dynamics: The Evidence of Age, Sex and Class in Domestic and Mortuary Contexts, Ph.D. thesis, Archaeology Department, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Milde, H. (1988). “Going out into the day.” Ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices concerning death. In Bremer, J. M., van den Hout, Th. P., and Peters, R. (ed.),Hidden Futures: Death and Immortality in Ancient Egypt, Anatolia, the Classical, Biblical and Arabic-Islamic World, University of Amsterdam Press, Amsterdam, pp. 15–35.
Millard, A. (1986).The Position of Women in the Family and in Society in Ancient Egypt, with Special Reference to the Middle Kingdom. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Egyptology, University College London, London.
Montserrat, D. (1996).Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Kegan Paul International, London.
Montserrat, D., and Meskell, L. M. (1997). Mortuary archaeology and religious landscape at Graeco-Roman Deir el Medina.Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 84: 179–197.
Moore, H. L. (1988).Feminism and Anthropology, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Moore, H. L. (1994).A Passion for Difference, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Pinch, G. (1993).Votive Offerings to Hathor, Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Pinch, G. (1994).Magic in Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, London.
Robins, G. (1994–1995). Women and children in peril: Pregnancy, birth and infant mortality in ancient Egypt.KMT 5(4): 24–35.
Robins, G. (1996). Dress, undress, and the representation of fertility and potency in New Kingdom Egyptian art. In Boymel Kampen, N. (ed.),Sexuality in Ancient Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 27–40.
Samuel, D. (1994).An Archaeological Study of Baking and Bread in New Kingdom Egypt, Ph.D. thesis, Department ofArchaeology, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Searle, J. R. (1983).Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Smith, H. S. (1972). Society and settlement in ancient Egypt. In Ucko, P. J., Tringham, R. and Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.),Man, Settlement and Urbanism, Duckworth, London, pp. 705–719.
Sweeney, D. (1993). Women's correspondence from Deir el-Medineh. In Zaccone, G. M., and di Nero, T. R. (eds.),Sesto Congresso Internazionale di Egittologia. Atti. Volume II, Comitato Organizzativo del Congresso, Turin, pp. 523–527.
Toivari, J. (1997). Man versus woman: interpersonal disputes in the workmen's community of Deir el Medina.Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 39(4): 1–21.
Toivari, J. (1998).The Social Status of Women in Deir el-Medina, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Egyptology, University of Leiden, Leiden (in preparation).
Valbelle, D. (1985).“Les Ouvriers de la Tombe.” Deir el Médineh à l'époque ramesside, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo.
Vandier d'Abbadie, J. (1937).Ostraca Figurés de Deir el Médineh, Imprimerie de l'Institute Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo.
Vandier d'Abbadie, J. (1938). Une fresque civile de Deir el Médina.Revue d'Égyptologie 3: 27–35.
Vandier d'Abbadie, J. (1946). A propos des bustes de laraires.Revue d'Égyptologie 5: 133–135.
Wente, E. (1990).Letters from Ancient Egypt, Scholars Press, Atlanta.
Wilfong, T. (1998). Menstrual synchromy and the “place of women” in ancient Egypt. (Oriental Institute Muserum Hieratic Ostracon 13512). In Teeter, E., and Larson, J. A. (eds.),Gold of Praise: Studies in Honour of Professor Edward F. Wente, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Yentsch, A. (1991). The symbolic divisions of pottery: Sex-related attributes of English and Anglo-American household pots. In McGuire, R. H., and Paynter, R. (eds.)The Archaeology of Inequality, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 192–230.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meskell, L. An archaeology of social relations in an Egyptian village. J Archaeol Method Theory 5, 209–243 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02428070
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02428070