Household Objects, Cooking Spaces and Domestic Work under Almohad Rule

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, households in al-Andalus used built kitchens, portable cooking equipment, water vessels and fitted sleeping spaces. Excavated houses at Siyasa, near Cieza in Murcia, reveal how these activities occupied rooms around a courtyard. A portable stove from Manises and water vessels from Murcia and Cadiz add detail about the objects handled within such spaces.

The evidence spans Almohad rule and the political changes that followed it. Murcia broke from Almohad authority in 1228 and accepted Castilian protection in 1243; some settlements continued in use through the 1260s. The dated objects and buildings discussed here belong to this twelfth- and thirteenth-century domestic world, with later deposits distinguished from the earlier manufacture and use of their contents.

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A kitchen arranged around fire

At Siyasa, kitchens opened from a side of the courtyard. Their installations included a shallow sunken hearth, a pantry or cupboard structure and low benches beside the fire. The hearth was lined with stone slabs. Its surface stood below the surrounding floor, giving the fire a defined place within the room.

Shelves in the pantry held provisions or utensils, while rectangular or L-shaped benches provided nearby surfaces for food and cooking vessels. The arrangement brought storage, preparation and heat close together. A cook could use the bench beside the hearth while keeping other goods away from the hottest part of the room.

A stove with separate fire and ash chambers

A ceramic anafe from Manises, dated to the first half of the thirteenth century, stands about 30 centimetres high. Its upper chamber held embers, while a perforated grate separated them from an ash chamber below. Air holes fed combustion, and openings allowed ash to fall or be removed. Projections around the rim supported a cooking pot above the heat.

This design concentrated a small fire beneath the vessel and allowed a dish to be cooked or kept warm. Charcoal or embers from a hearth could supply the heat. Handles helped with moving the stove, while its clay walls and grate had to withstand repeated heating. The surviving Manises example has no burn marks; its construction identifies the intended function, while its own history of use remains uncertain.

Keeping and serving water

Large tinajas stored water, while smaller jugs made it easier to carry or serve. A decorated thirteenth-century jug from a wealthy house in Murcia’s Calle San Nicolas is about 37 centimetres tall. Its two handles, narrow neck and rounded body suited pouring, and its fine painted surface made it suitable for display in a reception room.

A stand, or reposadero, supported a water vessel and caught moisture seeping through porous clay. At Cadiz, a twelfth-century Almohad jar from Prado del Rey is interpreted as part of an arrangement for ritual washing before prayer. Water collected in the stand could pass through a small channel to a basin; water could also be drawn directly from the jar. Storage and washing were linked through the vessel’s position and fittings.

Sleeping, sitting and sanitation

Siyasa’s long reception rooms could have small alcoves at their ends. These more enclosed spaces accommodated bedding and could be separated by a curtain or partition. During the day, a sleeping surface could also serve for reclining. Some houses had upper rooms reached by stairs from the courtyard or vestibule, adding space on a crowded hillside.

Latrines generally occupied a corner of the courtyard, sometimes reached through a narrow bent passage. A floor opening discharged towards a cesspit or the slope outside. The passage screened the entrance, while the drain carried waste away from the room. Water jars and washing spaces formed another part of the practical provision for bodily needs.

Equipment within changing buildings

At Siyasa, repeated alterations changed access and room divisions. After Castilian intervention and the revolt of 1264–1266, population loss and reuse changed the settlement again. A portable object could be discarded into a later fill long after it was made: the Manises stove came from a silo filled near the end of the thirteenth century.

Built installations and portable vessels solved different household tasks. A hearth fixed the place of a fire, a stove concentrated heat under a pot, a bench supplied a working surface and a water stand managed drips. Together they reveal the physical arrangements behind cooking, storing, resting and washing.

For the wider setting, see Homes, Households and Neighbourhoods under Almohad Rule.