When talking about monuments, size undeniably matters - or does it? But how else can we measure monumentality? Bringing together researchers from various fields such as archaeology, museology, history, sociology, Mesoamerican studies, and art history, this book discusses terminological and methodological approaches in both theoretical contributions and various case studies. While focusing on architectural aspects, this volume also discusses the social meaning of monuments, the role of forced and free labour, as well as textual monumentality. The result is a modern interdisciplinary take on an important concept which is notoriously difficult to define.

This volume offers a detailed architectural analysis of the Palace of King Tupkish at Tell Mozan (ancient Urkesh), built around 2250 B.C., and located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. The book studies the process of construction of the palace by examining the steps in the process through the chaine operatoire method. In order to quantify these construction steps, the volume deals extensively with methodology through a series of algorithms by which the energetic investment in a construction project can be quantified. These algorithms are applicable in general to structures in stone and mudbrick, and can be used to define and compare the cost and value of such structures in a meaningful way. By combining the understanding of the individual steps in the process of construction with the general algorithms and the volumetric measurements from a precise 3D model of the Royal Palace, this study calculates the effort needed to construct the building.

This volume contains a selection of articles based on papers presented at an international workshop held at Frankfurt am Main, Germany from the 27th to the 28th of October, 2012. The workshop was organized by members of the Research Training Group 1576 "Value and Equivalence" and the Tell Chuera Project. The articles address a wide range of materials (lithics, terracotta figurines, domestic architecture and installations, glyptics) and topics (the organization of space within residential areas, the economic base of 3rd millennium settlements, an anthropological perspective on the study of domestic remains) which are related to the study of 3rd millennium BCE houses and households in northern Mesopotamia. Many articles focus on recent archaeological excavations and observations from Tell Chuera, but hitherto unpublished field data from other sites (Tell Mozan, Tell Hazna, and Kharab Sayyar) are also presented. The archaeological focus of the volume is broadened by a philological treatise dealing with the study of households in southern Mesopotamia.