MEYERS;WHERE"ll-lEGIRl,"ARE 35tosurvive, Onecanstudythestateortheclan,withalltheattendant
politicalandreligiousoperations,andignorewomen;onecannotignore
womenifonesllldiesthehousehold.
Unfortunately, the importance ofthe household has made little
impactonthepracticeofarchaeologyinthelandoftheBible.Amajor
reason forthisistheBibleitself. Wehavebeenseducedbythecom-
pellingbiblical narrative andits authoritative role inJudea-Christian
culturetousearchaeologytotracethelarge-scalepolitical,social,and
religiousprocessesandpracticesdescribedoralludedtointhe Bible,
Sincethe verybeginningof"biblical archaeology,"mostexplorations,
surveys,andexclv,ltionshavehadaneyetotheBible-toproveit,dis-
proveit,illustrateit,orunderstanditsrhetoricandthemes.Archaeology
hasbeenprimarilyconcernedwiththepeoplesandpolitiesoftheBible
andtheirrelationshipswitheachotherovertime,notwithfamilygroups
andespeciallynotwiththeirfemalemembers.
Toputitanotherway,archaeologistsworkingintheNearEastand
especiallyinIsr,lelarerarelyconcernedwiththemicrolevelofanalysis.
Thatis,theirfocushasalmostneverbeenontheexaminationofdomestic
Slructuresandactivityareasandtheassociatedartifactswiththeintentof
reconstructingfamilyactivitiesanddynamics,Rather,archaeologicalproj-
ects have historically focused on the meso level, which entails the
developmentalhistoryofa site,andofcoursethemacrolevel,whichcan
provideinsightintoregional changesandconnections.These blatantly
diachronicinlerestsmeanthatthehouseholdalmostneverappearsonthe
radarscreenofarchaeologicalplans,projects,andpublications.Forexam-
ple,a recenttextbookeditedbyThomasLevyandcalled'l1JeArchaeology
o/Societyil/lheHolyLand,whileworthwhileinmanyrespects,9explicitly
andunabashedlyfocuses"onthemacroscaleofinvestigations,primarily
becauseourinterestisinneshingoutthedynamicsofthestruc[Ureand
changesaffectingthelargerissueofpastsocialorganizationswhichexisted
intheHolyLand.~10ThecontributorstoLevy'sbook,asistrueformost
otherworksonthearchaeologyofrhelandsoftheBible,wanttoexplore
changeovertimeinrelationtothesocial,political,andreligioushistory
presumablyreOectedintheBible.
Idonatmeantogivetheimpressionthathouseholdsareneverexca'
vated.Theyindeedare.However,therecoveryofmaterials,theextentto
whichtheyarepublished, andthewaythey appearinpublicationsall
<)Seethecomment>!onthi>ltextinJ.I'.Dc:5.'Se1."InSe"rchoftheGoodUook.ACritical
SurveyofHandbooksonBiblicalArchaeology:83-85inthisvolume.
10 11lOm:lsE.Levy,"I'ref:lce,"inlbeArchaeologyofSocietyilltheHolyimlli(cd.T.E
Levy;NewYork:FactsonFile,19(5),xiv.