Little Houses of Ancient Times

 I've been to lectures and read articles stating doll houses and miniatures in general date to the late seventeenth century with the Dutch Baby Houses, magnificent in their own right. Yet, we know Henry VII contributed to the Royal miniature collection in the late sixteenth century. Miniatures and tiny buildings and room, however, were known in the Ancient World and are often discovered in tombs even today.

A wonderful article by the Editors appeared in the March/April 2026 Archaeology magazine.  The article is called "Model Homes; A Look Inside Miniature Worlds Created for the Living, the Dead and the Divine."

 Structures covered include Ancient Egyptian rooms representing a granary and a bakery with miniature figures.  I've seen one in a local museum and more figures at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, CA.  There is a home for Maya God, done as a terracotta miniature, AD 700-850, a Pigpen and Penthouse from China, with tiny inhabitants, AD 25--220.  Also, from central Italy, 900-700 B.C., come terracotta hut  urns and a tower urn, used to contain ashes of deceased persons, usually women.

From Iran, 11-50 to 1250 AD comes a courtyard, enclosed, with tiny figures appearing to have a party.  I question the editors on this one; it may be a toy.  Many Islamic countries eschew human figures, statues, and photos, unless the figures are dolls, meant as toys for children.  Doll collecting exists, but it is not officially sanctioned.  

From Greece comes a house model 9.5 inches tall, c. 1700 B.C.

From north Macedonia, 6400-5500 B.C., come houses with human figures built on top.  These are clay.  They remind me of German Kitchen Dolls; the doll's skirts open up to reveal a tiny kitchen.

It's worth buying this issue for your files.  Below are some pictures of the mini rooms and houses of American Doll and Toy Museum.  Besides doll houses, we have Dept 56 homes and others, David Winter and other cottages, small souvenir buildings, dioramas, and shadow boxes.