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RECONSTRUCTION: HARVARD MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND ESTATE OF L .E. STAGER; ILLUSTRATION: C.S. ALEXANDER

A SNAPSHOT OF DAILY LIFE. In ancient Israel, extended families typically lived together in a bet ’ab (“father’s house”), a cluster of houses that shared a common living area. This reconstruction drawing shows what a bet ’ab could have looked like and some of the everyday activities that families would have performed, including grinding flour, tending animals, and processing and storing goods.