MEZOPOTAMYA’DA YERLEŞİK HAYATIN BAŞLANGICI VE SEMBOLİZMİN GELİŞİMİ: YENİ ARAŞTIRMALAR, DEĞİŞEN BAKIŞ AÇILARI, The begining of the settled life and the evolution of the symbolsim in Mesopotamia: New investigations and changing perspectives. (original) (raw)

Transition from hunter-gatherer and nomadic way of life to the permanently settled communities which relay on the domestication of plants and animals began during the Epipaleolithic period which is dated between 20.000 and 10.000 BC. Seasonal camp sites occur in that period whose locations are related with the climatical conditions. However the appearance of the food storage activities and specialization on hunting and gathering strategies provide an opportunity to the more settled life. After the end of Younger Dryas and the beginning of Holocene due to the favourable climatical conditions and the experience which comes from the Epipaleolithic seasonal settlement strategies allow to the prehistoric groups to establish first large permanent communities at the beginning of the Neolithic Era. However living in large groups of people without kinship requires some kind of social beliefs and norms which organize the social relations inside the group. Cognitive and cultural implications of the symbolic representations create collective memory and collective identity which is essential for every settled communities. In Northern Mesopotamia transition from nomadic to the permanently settled life begans with the Epipaleolithic seasonal camp sites to the Neolithic permanent villages. Göbeklitepe is one of the famous archaeological sites which located in Southeastern Turkey. Monumental buildings, decorated pillars and stone sculptures were identified in Pre-Pottery Neolithic layers. The site ise defined as a ritual place for Neolithic groups. This unique site provides enormous information about the symbolic representation in Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period. However recent investigations at Göbeklitepe and neighbor prehistoric sites reveal significant information about the beginning of the first large settled communities in Northern Mesopotamia. This article aims to reevaluate the beginning of the settled life in Northern Mesopotamia by means of recent investgations in the region.