El Edificio B de Tell el-Ghaba como un caso de estudio para repensar la dinámica de la unidad doméstica en el Egipto antiguo

Abstract

Tell el-Ghaba, located at the Egyptian Eastern border of the Nile Delta and close to the extinct Pelusiac branch of the Nile, is a settlement dated to the beginning of the Third Intermediate-early Saite periods. The pottery contexts and other finds recovered in Building B (Area I, Level IV) allow us to infer the relationship established between their residents and the domestic artifacts they handled on a daily basis. The idea of ‘multifunctionality’ is applied to the use of residential spaces, based on the presence of domestic contexts that point to the performance of a variety of activities. The activities within the room were intimately linked to internal social factors as well as to the relationship with outdoor space, both planned according to certain social expectations. This building would have been the residence of an extended family for several generations, as evidenced by several refurbishments. The ceramic group has been mainly associated with storage activities, consumption and preparation of food, conservation, and transport of liquid and solid substances. From these activities and the relationship of Building B’s inhabitants with the materiality with which they interacted on a daily basis, the social and economic dynamics that would have been established in this household is analysed.