Scale model houses from Cucuteni-Tripolye culture circa 4100 to 3300 BC

Each family unit invented its own slight variations on domestic rituals, reflected in its unique assemblage of serving and eating vessels, painted with polychrome designs of often mesmerizing intensity and made in a dazzling variety of forms. It's as if every household was an artists' collective which invented its own unique aesthetic style. Some of this household pottery evokes the bodies of women; and among other items most commonly found within the remains of houses are female figures of clay. Model houses and tiny replicas of furniture and eating equipment also survive - miniature representations of lost social worlds, again, affirming the prominent role of women within them.

The above's a passage from Graeber & Wengrow's 2021 book, The Dawn of Everything, on artifacts found in some city houses belonging to people of the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, located in Ukraine and adjoining regions, dating from around 4100 to 3300 BC. 

This is another example that highlights constructing miniature buildings of one sort or another has been around for a very long time. Also, I find it interesting that these model houses were found in regular, everyday residential houses, not tombs, religious sites, or other ceremonial places. The authors don't exactly know what these model houses were for, if anything, and later speculate that maybe we'll never know their story. This 'we may never know' assessment is an all too common phrase I use here at the blog.