Tell Arbid. House and household in a changing town. PAM Monograph Series 9

The exploration of house and household–architecture, domestic features and artifacts–from a major site in the Syrian Jezirah at a key period in the development of the region (EJZ2–EJZ3, that is, 2550–2350 p.n.e.) has given a vivid picture of the life of an ancient community, its material culture, social organization, economic resources and daily activities at the time of its greatest development. Tell Arbid in northeastern Syria was a middle-sized town whose rise and expansion was particularly dynamic in the Ninevite V period (EJZ1–EJZ2), reflecting the robust urbanization processes that were part of a widespread socio-economic transformation of the region at the time.

A study of the results of more than 10 years of archaeological investigation of Area D on Tell Arbid, focusing on the sphere of community life in one of the urban districts recognized in the town, has given new insight into the way of life of the inhabitants and the functioning of the house as an economic unit, as well as the nature of food preparation and home industries, recognizing in greater depth the social and economic structure of the community that once inhabited this town.

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Although the investigated area is not large, Smogorzewska's study is one of the most detailed presentations of a house and households of Early Bronze Age Syria to date. The author delivers a most profound analysis of the house, its inhabitants and their daily life based on the architecture, installations, and inventory. In the analytic part, she... relates the house to existing theories of house concepts of the period... and makes use of very convincing ethnographical parallels... [Her] excellent catalogue of the pottery will certainly become one of the hallmarks for EJ 2-3 pottery.
Such a study has never been made for this period and region.
... A comprehensive study of Area D in Tell Arbid, one of the most important and best excavated Early Bronze Age sites in the Syrian Jazira.
Prof. Adelheid Otto, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München