ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine the role archaeology plays, and might further play, in approaching the everyday lives of common people in the Mesopotamian past. Everything we have considered so far has been about people, however indirectly, but here we focus the archaeological lens somewhat more sharply on the lives of common peoples themselves. The social value of studying everyday life has been celebrated by Giddens as revealing ‘how humans can act creatively to shape reality’, as well as comprising a means of shedding light on the structures and institutions of societies (Giddens 2001: 80–2). We have perhaps already gained a sense that this broad subject, in all its manifold complexity and diversity, has hitherto not been adequately treated by archaeologists working in the Mesopotamian arena, as has also been the case in other parts of the world, particularly once we consider periods for which textual evidence exists. In the past century and a half much effort has gone into the exploration of capital cities, palaces, temples, royal cemeteries and other aspects of socially dominant elements, often in the hope of recovery of spectacular material culture such as palace reliefs or rich grave goods, the so-called ‘old-fashioned archeology of digging royal tombs for fine-arts museums’ derided by Robert Braidwood many years ago (Braidwood and Howe 1960: 7). Less effort has been expended on the investigation of the more mundane and quotidian aspects of living in the Mesopotamian past, although in recent decades there has been some redress of the balance, principally under the influence of the innovative and interdisciplinary approaches of economic and anthropological archaeology pioneered by Braidwood himself. Extensive areas of private domestic quarters have been excavated at several sites, from various periods, thus allowing us to explore issues of everyday life for the common people of ancient Mesopotamia.
