Life in Neolithic Farming Communities

Drawing on both the results of recent archaeological research and anthropological theory, leading experts synthesize current thinking on the nature of and variation within Neolithic social arrangements. The authors analyze archaeological data within a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to reconstruct key aspects of ritual practices, labor organization, and collective social identity at the scale of the household, community, and region.

Contenu

Part I: Introduction. 1. Social Configurations of the Near Eastern Neolithic: An Introduction; I. Kuijt. Part II: Sedentism, Early Villages and Households in Transition. 2. Early Sedentism in the Near East - A Bumpy Ride to Village Life; A. Belfer-Cohen, O. Bar-Yosef. 3. Hallan Çemi and Early Village Organization in Eastern Anatolia; M. Rosenberg, R.W. Redding. 4. Households in Transition: Neolithic Social Organization within Southwest Asia; B.F. Byrd. Part III: Organization of Social Relations: Mortuary Ritual, Social Differentiation, and Settlement Systems. 5. The Quick and the Dead: The Social Context of Aceramic Neolithic Mortuary Practices as Seen from Kfar Hahoresh; N. Goring-Morris. 6. Keeping the Peace: Ritual, Skull Caching and Community Integration in the Levantine Neolithic; I. Kuijt. 7. Ritual and Social Structure at Neolithic Ain Ghazal; G.O. Rollefson. 8. Is Size Important? Function and Hierarchy in Neolithic Settlements; F. Hole. 9. Villages on the Edge: Regional Settlement Change and the End of the Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic; A. Simmons. Part IV: Social Relations and Material Culture: Symbolism and Meaning. 10. The Symbolic Foundations of the Neolithic Revolution in the Near East; J. Cauvin. 11. Çatal Hüyük in Context Ritual at Early Neolithic Sites in Central and Eastern Turkey; M.M. Voigt. 12. The Pottery Neolithic Period: Questions about Pottery Decoration, Symbolism and Meaning; E. Orrelle, A. Gopher. Part V: Conclusion. 13. NearEastern Neolithic Research.