Editing Home (section)

==History==
=== Prehistoric ===
[[File:Taino petroglyph in cave.jpg|thumb|[[Taíno]] [[petroglyph]]s in a cave in Puerto Rico]]
The earliest homes humans inhabited were likely naturally occurring features such as [[cave]]s. There is numerous evidence for early human species inhabiting caves from at least one million years ago, including ''[[Homo erectus]]'' in China at [[Zhoukoudian]], ''[[Homo rhodesiensis]]'' in South Africa at the Cave of Hearths ([[Makapansgat]]), ''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' and ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' in Europe at [[Archaeological Site of Atapuerca]], ''[[Homo floresiensis]]'' in Indonesia, and the [[Denisovans]] in southern Siberia.

In southern Africa, early modern humans regularly used sea caves as shelter starting about 180,000 years ago, when they learned to exploit the sea for the first time.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=17943129 |year=2007 |last1=Marean |first1=C.W. |title=Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5902752 |journal=Nature |volume=449 |issue=7164 |pages=905–908 |last2=Bar-Matthews |first2=M. |last3=Bernatchez |first3=J. |last4=Fisher |first4=E. |last5=Goldberg |first5=P. |last6=Herries |first6=A.I. |last7=Jacobs |first7=Z. |last8=Jerardino |first8=A. |last9=Karkanas |first9=P.|last10=Minichillo|first10=T. |last11=Nilssen |first11=P.J. |last12=Thompson |first12=E. |last13=Watts |first13=I. |last14=Williams |first14=H.M. |doi=10.1038/nature06204 |bibcode=2007Natur.449..905M |s2cid=4387442 |access-date=22 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922101726/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5902752_Early_human_use_of_marine_resources_and_pigment_in_South_Africa_during_the_Middle_Pleistocene |archive-date=22 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The oldest known site is PP13B at [[Pinnacle Point]]. This may have allowed rapid expansion of humans out of Africa and colonization of areas of the world such as Australia by 60–50,000 years ago. Throughout southern Africa, Australia, and Europe, early modern humans used caves and rock shelters as sites for rock art, such as those at [[Giants Castle]]. Caves such as the [[yaodong]] in China were used for shelter; other caves were used for burials (such as [[rock-cut tombs]]), or as religious sites (such as [[:Category:Buddhist caves|Buddhist caves]]). Among the known sacred caves are China's Cave of a Thousand Buddhas<ref>{{cite book |last=Olsen |first=Brad |title=Sacred Places Around the World: 108 Destinations |year=2004 |publisher=CCC Publishing |isbn=978-1-888729-16-0 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FS40w2nrqQC&pg=PA16 |access-date=2 December 2020 |archive-date=21 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521053946/https://books.google.com/books?id=7FS40w2nrqQC&pg=PA16 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[sacred caves of Crete]]. As technology progressed, humans and other hominids began constructing their own dwellings. Buildings such as [[Hut (dwelling)|huts]] and [[longhouse]]s have been used for living since the late [[Neolithic]].<ref name="Skara Brae">{{cite web |url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/ |title=Skara Brae |publisher=Orkneyjar |access-date=8 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121209170724/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/ |archive-date=9 December 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Ancient ===
By the Bronze Age (c. 3500–1200 BC), communities in [[Mesopotamia]] began constructing permanent dwellings of [[mudbrick]]; excavations at [[Uruk]] and [[Ubaid]] reveal single-room and multi-room houses organised around small courtyards, built with uniform bricks and bitumen mortar.<ref>{{cite web|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/smes/hd_smes.htm|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref> These early urban homes often clustered along straight streets and shared common wells and ovens.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Algaze|first=Gilbert|title=Early Urbanization in Mesopotamia|journal=Journal of Archaeological Research|year=1993|volume=1|issue=1|pages=1–38|doi=10.1007/BF02292781|doi-broken-date=31 May 2025 }}</ref> In [[Ancient Egypt]], from the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC) onwards, town layouts at [[Amarna, Egypt|Amarna]] and [[Deir el-Medina]] display mudbrick houses with flat roofs built in dense rows off narrow lanes; typical houses comprised a reception room, private chambers, and a small courtyard used for food preparation and work activities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Domestic Architecture in Ancient Egypt|url=http://www.ancient.eu/article/1232/domestic-architecture-in-ancient-egypt/|publisher=World History Encyclopedia|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref> The [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] (c. 2600–1900 BC) featured standardised fired-bricks and sophisticated urban planning in cities like [[Mohenjo-daro]] and [[Harappa]], where two-story houses included private wells, indoor bathrooms with drainage, and south-facing courtyards engineered for ventilation in the hot climate.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ancient Indus Valley Civilization|url=https://www.harappa.com/har/har02.html|publisher=Harappa.com|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref>

On Bronze Age [[Crete]], the Minoan palace at [[Knossos]] incorporated residential quarters with light wells and lustral basins, reflecting an emphasis on light and ritual purity in domestic space.<ref>{{cite book|last=Manning|first=Sturt W.|title=A History of Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|pages=35–40}}</ref> Surrounding settlements adopted similar rectilinear house plans centered on storage magazines and communal courts. By the 1st century BC in [[Ancient Rome]], the affluent lived in [[Roman villa|domus]]—multiroom urban houses built around an atrium and peristyle garden—while the majority resided in multi-story apartment blocks called insulae, often cramped and prone to fire hazards.<ref>{{cite web|title=Housing in Ancient Rome|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/809/housing-in-ancient-rome/|publisher=World History Encyclopedia|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref>

=== Post-classical ===
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, domestic architecture in Europe reverted to simple timber-framed or wattle-and-daub huts, while the elite continued to inhabit stone manor houses with great halls and defensive features. By the 12th century, these manor houses commonly featured a central hall, private solar chambers, and adjoining service wings, reflecting both social hierarchy and the need for local defense.<ref>{{cite book|last=Striner|first=Richard|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=9780199665379|page=217}}</ref> In medieval towns, multi-storey timber-framed “hall houses” with jettied upper floors lined narrow streets, maximizing limited urban plots and providing shelter from street traffic.<ref>{{cite web|title=Medieval European Architecture|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/medieval-architecture|publisher=History Today|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref>

Concurrently, in the Islamic world from the 8th century onwards, the inward-facing courtyard house became predominant. Private residences were organized around shaded central courts with water features, mashrabiya screens for ventilation and privacy, and richly decorated plasterwork and tile.<ref>{{cite web|title=Courtyard Houses in the Islamic World|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1996.533|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref> In East Asia, the Chinese siheyuan compound—standardized during the Yuan and Ming dynasties—offered multigenerational living around a north–south axis courtyard, with ancillary rooms for servants and extended family.

The Renaissance (14th–17th centuries) brought classical ideals into domestic design. In Florence, the Palazzo Medici Riccardi (begun 1444) introduced rusticated façades, symmetrical floor plans, and internal loggias, while Venetian villas by Palladio emphasized proportion, harmony, and integration with landscaped gardens.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ackerman|first=James S.|title=The Architecture of Michelangelo|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1986|isbn=9780226111438|page=45}}</ref> Advances in glassmaking allowed larger, clearer windows, and masonry chimneys gradually replaced central hearths, vastly improving light and air quality within homes.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Windows|url=https://www.nfrc.org/history-of-windows|publisher=National Fenestration Rating Council|accessdate=2025-05-02}}</ref> From the 14th to the 16th century, homelessness was perceived of as a "vagrancy problem" and legislative responses to the problem were predicated upon the threat it may pose to the state.<ref name=":5" />

=== Modern era ===
[[File:Worker home from 1911 in Helsinki.jpg|thumb|Industrialization brought mass migration to cities. This one-room worker home from [[Helsinki]] is typical to late 19th century and early 20th century, often housing large families.<ref>City of Helsinki (2022): Display captions in the Worker Housing Museum.</ref>]]
According to [[Kirsten Gram-Hanssen]], "It can be argued that historically and cross-culturally there is not always [a] strong relation between the concept of home and the physical building, and that this mode of thinking is rooted in [[Age of Enlightenment|the Enlightenment]] of the seventeenth century".<ref name=":0" /> Before, one's home was more public than private; traits such as privacy, intimacy and familiarity would proceed to achieve greater prominence, aligning the concept with the [[bourgeoisie]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kreiczer-Levy |first=Shelly |date=2014 |title=Intergenerational Relations and the Family Home |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/lehr-2014-0004 |journal=The Law & Ethics of Human Rights |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=131–160 |doi=10.1515/lehr-2014-0004 |s2cid=146596570 |issn=2194-6531|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The connection between home and house was reinforced by a [[case law]] declaration from [[Edward Coke]]: "The house of everyman is to him as his castle and fortress, as well as his defense against injury and violence, as for his repose". Colloquially, this was adapted into the phrase "The Englishman's home is his castle" which popularised the notion of home as house.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Mallett |first=Shelley |date=2004 |title=Understanding Home: A Critical Review of the Literature |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.2004.00442.x |journal=The Sociological Review |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=62–89 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-954x.2004.00442.x |s2cid=141848481 |issn=0038-0261|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A result of the longstanding association between home and women, 18th century English women, of upper-class status, were scorned for pursuing activities outside of the home, thus seen to be of undesirable character.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Judith S. |date=2009 |title=When a House Is Not a Home: Elite English Women and the Eighteenth-Century Country House |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25483038 |journal=Journal of British Studies |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=336–363 |doi=10.1086/596124 |jstor=25483038 |issn=0021-9371|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The concept of home took on unprecedent prominence by the 18th century, reified by cultural practice.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Harvey |first=Karen |date=2009 |title=Men Making Home: Masculinity and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century Britain |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2009.01569.x |journal=Gender & History |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=520–540 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0424.2009.01569.x |s2cid=145277189 |issn=0953-5233|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The concept of a [[Home automation|smart home]] arose in the 19th century in turn with electricity having been introduced to homes in a limited capacity.<ref name=":0" /> The distinction between home and work formulated in the 20th century, with home acting as sanctuary.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Imrie |first=Rob |date=2004 |title=Disability, embodiment and the meaning of the home |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0267303042000249189 |journal=Housing Studies |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=745–763 |doi=10.1080/0267303042000249189 |bibcode=2004HouSt..19..745I |s2cid=143978616 |issn=0267-3037|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Modern definitions portray home as a site of supreme comfort and familial intimacy, operating as a buffer to the greater world.<ref name=":10" />