Daub House Ethnographic Study
by Nisha Patel

A small component of our investigations of Neolithic and Early Copper Age house construction techniques was an ethnographic study of daub houses within the area around Körösladány-Bikeri. This area is an agricultural region in Hungary and many of the structures which are still in use are made of wood and clay. In addition, a reconstruction of a Neolithic wattle-and-daub house is present as part of the museum at the nearby tell site of Vészt o-Mágor. The aim of this investigation was to gain an understanding of the methods and degree of upkeep required to maintain wattle-and-daub structures on the Plain. Information was collected on the age of structures, materials used, area of material procurement, time spent in building and repair, problems that arise with maintenance, etc. Other ethnographic information was also collected from nearby regional museums. This information can then help us to understand how ancient people would have had to have maintained their structures and how it affected other types of activities.

Though direct analogies cannot be made between modern clay or wattle-and-daub structures due to differences in technologies utilized in building and repair, some useful information can be attained. We realized that many of the structures were very old, over a hundred years in some cases, and could be continually repaired. Agricultural by-products such as chaff are often used to mix into the matrix of clay used for the walls and floors. Other materials are often also incorporated into the clay by accident. In one structure a piece of ceramic was sticking out of the wall in a doorway. Other structural features such as kilns, and benches often have very smooth, rounded corners that, if burned, could be mistaken for being ceramic instead of daub. The information gained can help us to better interpret what we find in the archaeological record. This study was small-scale and future research in the area can help us to elucidate further how ancient structures would have had to have been maintained and how this organized activities at settlements.