Crossing the threshold : a critical analysis of Levantine domestic architecture

Archaeologists studying ancient domestic architecture are often confronted with highly fragmentary architectural remains. This lack of data could lead to a focus on the visual comparison of floor plans as the most reliable and accessible source of information, or the exclusion of fragmentary structures altogether. It is argued, however, that all architectural remains carry a wide range of possibly meaningful information, which can be analyzed using an equally wide range of approaches. As an example, a set of highly fragmentary houses from the Northern Levantine region, dated to the Iron Age I period, was subjected to a quantitative, formal, technological, contextual and urban analysis, offering a diverse picture of the ancient architecture and its inhabitants.