Everyday Life

c. 1942–1947 CE

Ration Books and Shopping Baskets: Food in Wartime America

Ration books brought wartime supply pressures to the grocery counter. Photographs, point systems and victory gardens reveal the work behind feeding American households.

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c. 1603–1868 CE

Edo Before Tokyo: Life in the Shogun’s City

A bridge, an actor’s portrait and a firefighter’s clothing open a view into Edo. Explore the trade, printmaking, entertainment and skilled work of the city that became Tokyo.

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c. 2350–1700 BCE

Neighbours and Disputes: Living Together in Mesopotamian Cities

Houses, property records and lawsuits reveal how urban neighbours lived together, maintained rights and challenged claims in ancient Mesopotamia.

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c. 100–600 CE

Life in Roman Stobi: Streets, Spectacles and Belief

Explore Stobi through its theatre, streets, residences and religious buildings, following the changing uses of a Roman provincial city.

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c. 2100–1500 BCE

Growing Up in Ancient Mesopotamia: Childhood, Learning and Work

Explore childhood in ancient Mesopotamia through family work, school tablets and small clay models, and discover what the evidence reveals about growing up.

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AI-generated illustration

c. 2900–2000 BCE

Work in the First Cities: Crafts, Skills and Labour

Explore pottery, wool spinning and mudbrick making in ancient Mesopotamia, and the records that reveal how early cities organised skilled work.

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AI-generated illustration

c. 800–1700 CE

Faith and Community in the Swahili Cities

Explore mosques at Kilwa and Gedi, earlier evidence from Shanga, and the ways religious practice became part of Swahili urban life.

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c. 1350–1550 CE

Coral Houses and Courtyards: Everyday Life in a Swahili Town

Enter Songo Mnara’s houses through evidence of food preparation, thread-making and water storage, and explore the unequal lives behind the walls.

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AI-generated illustration

c. 1914–1918 CE

Life in the Trenches: How Soldiers Lived on the Western Front

Look beyond attacks to the work, shelter, correspondence and strain of trench service, drawing mainly on Canadian experience in the First World War.

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AI-generated illustration

c. 500–322 BCE

Athenian Democracy: Who Could Take Part—and Who Was Excluded?

Explore the Assembly, citizenship and jury service in ancient Athens, and discover why living in the city did not give everyone a political voice.

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AI-generated illustration

c. 2600–2500 BCE

Who Built the Egyptian Pyramids—and How Was the Work Organised?

Follow workers’ settlements, food supplies and administrative traces to understand the people and organisation behind the pyramids at Giza.

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c. 1792–1750 BCE

Hammurabi’s Laws: What Did Justice Mean in Ancient Babylon?

Explore responsibility, social status and royal authority through Hammurabi’s laws—and distinguish legal provisions from records of actual trials.

5 min readLibradia Editorial