Round House or Square? Architectural Form and Socio-Economic Organization in the PPNB

Abstract

Anticipated mobility, agriculture and increased personal wealth initiated a change in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. This change is made manifest in the transition from curvilinear to rectilinear architecture by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. It is argued that the combined affect of anticipated mobility, agricultural intensification and craft specialization ultimately changed the mode of production and the social organization within PPNB agricultural villages. The impact of these features upon family structure is seen in the establishment of nuclear households and the use of rectilinear architecture.