Definitions. Evidence for reconstructing Mesopotamian social organization comes from a vast variety of written texts as well as from archaeological excavation of private houses and the architectural complexes of the great institutions, the temples and palaces. Social historians define family as persons related by blood or marriage, and household as persons living under the same roof. A married couple and their children constitute a nuclear family. If other relations—such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—are included in the group, it constitutes an extended family. Family groupings that encompass even wider family ties are known as tribes or clans. Members of a nuclear family living together in one house constitute a family household, and extended family households are also possible. In Mesopotamia the temple and the palace were organized and functioned as households, even though their...