Neolithic Transition Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

ABSTRACT – Taking my cue from James Scott’s opening provocation-question in “Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States” (“How did Homo sapiens sapiens come, so very recently in its species history, to live in crowded,... more

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- Future Studies, Social Change, Mimesis, Neolithic Archaeology
- by Vesa-Pekka Herva and +1
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- Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, History of Russian North, Metal Finds (Archaeology)
- by Emma L Baysal
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology

This chapter outlines the mesolithic-neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia on the basis of the cultural development of the Mesolithic in the area. The development of the social organization of the society is based on an analysis of dwellings and settlements. There has been an attempt to produce a better working hypothesis than those hitherto employed, by incorporating all data and evidence into a model that is feasible in both ethnographic and economic terms.

- by Ole Grøn
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- Neolithic Transition, Mesolithic/Neolithic, Settlement Organization
- by Vesa-Pekka Herva and +1
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Pottery (Archaeology), Neolithic Archaeology, Ceramics (Archaeology)
- by Marc Vander Linden
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- Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Transition

Recent fieldwork in the main excavation area at Göbekli Tepe has focused on the excavation of deep soundingsto reach the natural bedrock in preparation for the construction of a shelter, urgently required for the protection of the exposed Neolithic architecture. Eleven deep soundings have been excavated to the bedrock. At several locations, considerable amounts of carbonized botanical material were discovered, so far unique for excavations at Göbekli. A series of more than 150 samples has been produced either on site or by flotation of the relevant soil units. To test the quality of the material for radiocarbon dating, five samples from the area of the large enclosures from Layer III were submitted for AMS-radiocarbon dating. These new data, together with a further age made on collagen from an animal tooth, are presented and discussed in context with previously available absolute chronological evidence.

"Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. We are pleased to present a summary of work in progress by the excavators of this remarkable site and their latest thoughts
about its role and meaning. At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting—and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops."

- by Kosmas Touloumis
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- History, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Greek History
- by Rick Doble
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- Comparative Religion, Ancient History, Geography, Anthropology

The last two decades of excavations in southwest Scania, Sweden, have given substantial new results regarding Early Neolithic society (4000–3300 cal. BC). The overall aim here is to discuss and synthesize these results, and a number of important excavations are also presented in detail. The results are both on a macro scale concerning overall settlement pattern, landscape use and the scale of monumental landscapes, and on a micro scale concerning, for example, houses and huts, monumental sites and their complexity, and pits-omy of the region as well as the socio-political organization are discussed based on interpretations of the material presented.

- by Magnus Artursson
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- Geography, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Transition, Neolithic Europe

South-west Asia in the last 10 millennia of the Palaeolithic
(known regionally as the Epi-palaeolithic) and the early
(aceramic) Neolithic saw the emergence of a completely
new kind of human social organisation in the form of large,
permanently co-resident communities of hundreds, and in
some cases of thousands, of people. Monumental architecture,
vividly dramatic sculptures, and other sorts of symbolic
representation and ritualised performance accompanied that
great transformation of society. Having sketched the outline
of the social and economic transformation, I will discuss the
role of symbolic culture in the formation and maintenance of
these earliest sedentary communities. And that will allow us
to consider how ritual performance developed in the service
of collective memory, collective identity, and the making of
ideas about the nature of the world, its superhuman agencies,
and the community’s place in that world.

O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, P.M.M.G. Akkermans, J. van der Plicht, A. Russell & A. Kaneda (2016). In: P. Biehl & O.P. Nieuwenhuyse (eds.). Climate and cultural change in prehistoric Europe and the Near East. Buffalo, NY: State University of New... more

The origin of agriculture is one of the defining events of human history. Some 11-10,000 years ago bands of hunter-gatherers started to abandon their high-mobility lifestyles in favour of growing crops, and the creation of settled, sedentary communities. This shift into an agricultural lifestyle triggered the evolution of complex political and economic structures, and technological developments, and ultimately underpinned the rise of all the great civilisations of recent humanhistory.Domestication of Plants in the Old World reviews and synthesises the information on the origins and domestication of cultivated plants in the Old World, and subsequently the spread of cultivation from southwest Asia into Asia, Europe, and north Africa, from the very earliest beginnings. This book is mainly based on detailed consideration of two lines of evidences: the plant remains found at archaeological sites, and the knowledge that has accumulated about the present-day wildrelatives of domesticated plants. This new edition revises and updates previous data and incorporates the most recent findings from molecular biology about the genetic relations between domesticated plants and their wild ancestors, and incorporates extensive new archaeological data about the spread of agriculturewithin the region. The reference list has been completely updated, as have the list of archaeological sites and the site maps.

- by Ehud Weiss
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- Botany, Genetics, Archaeology, Anthropology

Lepenski Vir is one of the best known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in Europe and the world. This book is the first volume of a comprehensive archaeological and anthropological study of the human skeletal remains from this site. Bringing various strands of mortuary evidence together for the first time the author provides a more complete picture of life and death at Lepenski Vir, including comparisons of the many contexts in which human remains have been found as well as details of biological characteristics of the people who created such distinctive material culture at the site. The site of Lepenski Vir is one of the best documented and analyzed contexts for the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition anywhere. A combination of a detailed study of archaeological data, archaeothanatological analysis, science-based approaches to the skeletal material, and a social bioarchaeology perspective regarding the integration of different strands of data when providing wider interpretations, make this book an unique contribution to the current literature on the many-sided consequences of the change from foraging to farming.
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/deathways-at-lepenski-vir.html

Vein quartz as a raw material for prehistoric stone tools is a much maligned material, very often treated to a cursory analysis only, if it is analysed at all. This paper examines the role of quartz in Neolithic stone tool traditions through the typo-technological analysis based on experimental archaeology of a Neolithic quartz assemblage from Thornhill, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and a comparison with a Mesolithic quartz assemblage from Belderrig, Co. Mayo, Ireland. The analysis shows that the Neolithic quartz tradition is distinctly different from the preceding Mesolithic and appears geared towards the production and use of smaller, thinner flakes knapped using a wider range of techniques, combinations of techniques and technical procedures than in the Later Mesolithic. The use of the bipolar technique is interpreted as a social choice based on the lithic traditions of the Neolithic community and not directly related to the use of quartz cobbles or the knapping of small cores. Differences and similarities were noted between the manufacture techniques and treatment of quartz and flint by the community at Thornhill. Moreover, a complex pattern of deposition of both artefactual and natural quartz was identified in the pits and structures, suggesting that quartz played a complex dual role for the inhabitants of the site.

The intent of this research paper is to trace the antiquity and significance of the rudiments of traditional masquerades still practiced in Sardinia, Bulgaria and other Balkan or Alpine countries through matrilineal ritual symbols from Neolithic Old Europe interlaced with Dionysian Bronze Age rituals based upon Thracian myths. Additionally, this research is to query accepted beliefs that Carnival origins only began with medieval Christmas, Lenten and Easter holidays, or are merely processions reflecting current popular culture. In this paper, the symbols of suppressed spiritual consciousness embedded mnemonically in the masks and gear of all-male Bulgarian Kukeri Festivals and Sardinian Carnivales participants, are presented as evolving from Neolithic times in Old Europe, then extending to Sardinia with migrations, and later, through extensive obsidian trade routes, myths and rituals carried between Sardinia-Corsica, Old Europe and the Mediterranean-at-large.

The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé , but also the importance of bovine husbandry and, for the first time in this area, evidence for caprine herding practices. Radiocarbon dating places this occupation at the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C., similar in range to Asa Koma. These two sites represent the oldest evidence of herding in the region, and they provide a better understanding of the development of Neolithic societies in this region.

- by Diaz Amélie and +5
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- African Studies, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Environmental Science

Aδημοσίευτη Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία/Unpublished Master Thesis

Oswald Spengler, a brilliant yet controversial philosopher of history, is probably best known for his seminal “Decline of the West”. In this book, Spengler boldly claimed to not only to contextualize world history, but also predict future developments on the basis of understanding cultures as cyclical entities with dynamics akin to those of organic beings. Misread, shunned, and finally subject to academic oblivion in the second half of the 20th century, aspects of cultural morphology are currently rediscovered by a variety of disciplines including palaeoanthropology, ancient history, and ancient Near Eastern studies as potentially powerful tools to review regional or supra-regional phenomena like crisis, change, and adaption from a different, “Spenglerian” angle. This contribution argues that aspects of morphological thought as outlined in the “Decline”, but also in his later works can be immensely beneficial to scrutinize the mechanisms of change and apotheosis—the original meaning of “decline” in Spengler’s work!—in prehistoric contexts. Case studies from archaeology are used as a backdrop to highlight the possibilities and limits of cultural morphology as a methodological baseline to engage in current archaeological debates

- by Thomas Zimmermann
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- History, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Archaeology
- by Lee Clare and +2
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Transition

A number of researchers have suggested that the winter solstice alignment at the Newgrange Passage Tomb in Ireland had a fertility purpose. In this article I build on the knowledge of many experts to arrive at a possible reason for the... more

- by Rick Doble
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- Comparative Religion, Ancient History, Anthropology, History of Religion

The discussion on the mutual relations of various elements within the Funnel Beaker culture has been on for almost half a century now. It currently involves the third generation of researchers, and it is quite likely that the next generations will still have something more to add to this exchange of views (K. Jażdżewski 1970a, p. 49). Half a century has passed since that publication and now we can only assent to the Professor and risk the statement that in the next 50 years this problem will continue to be valid. This paper is intended as an attempt to sketch answer the fundamental question defined by Jażdżewski (1970a, p. 49): The essential question is whether the northern, western and southern elements balance within the Funnel Beaker culture, or whether one of
them is dominant, prime and decisive for further development. In other words, I intend to predominantly focus on the geo-cultural significance of the communities of the Funnel Beaker culture. In parallel with the essential part of the analysis, I will make an attempt to illustrate the threads of the contemporary discourse which directly relate to Jażdżewski’s thoughts.

- by Aytaç Coşkun and +1
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- Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Transition, The Neolithic Revolution, Mesolithic/Neolithic

Abstract
Avgi Kastorias: tracing the biography of the Neolithic settlement
by Georgia Stratouli, Tasos Bekiaris
This paper discusses aspects of the biography of the Neolithic Settlement of Avgi in Kastoria region, NW Greece. It focuses on a particular area of the site’s built environment (Area 2 in the Western Sector of the on-site excavations), which is characterized by distinct architectural features -mainly buildings- from various occupational phases during the second half of the 6th millennium (AVGI I) and also the 5th millennium (AVGI II). The study of the buildings not only as architectural structures but as material entities with specific biographies could underline their multiple meanings for the neolithic society, as well as their critical role for the formation of identities and the social reproduction.
It is suggested that the radical changes documented in the buildings of Area 2 at different habitation phases correspond to broader developments in the social life at Avgi.

- by Georgia Stratouli and +1
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Mediterranean prehistory, Settlement Patterns, Neolithic Archaeology

Neolithisation of the Republic of North Macedonia is one of the most important issues related to the beginning of the Neolithic on this territory, but also to the wider area of the Balkans, especially its central parts. Unfortunately, although this topic has been opened decades ago to date, there is still no new knowledge about it. Therefore, the paper below is a retrospective of the data thus far on this extremely important process(es) concerning early agricultural communities in the Republic of North Macedonia. For that reason there will probably be only one more attempt to select the more important elements of the story of the earliest Neolithic societies in this part of the Balkans.

A Neolithic structure was rebuilt three times at Çukuriçi Höyük, on the central Anatolian Aegean coast, despite its unfavourable location on unsettled fill. We draw upon this seemingly incongruous case to make inference about the siting of buildings in Neolithic times. Through detailed cross-comparison with other sequences of vertically superimposed buildings in Anatolia and the Aegean region, we retrace the contours of a Neolithic practice aimed at maintaining occupation in one place. Over time, building continuity transformed into a strategy by some households to claim authority over a place and appropriate it for their own benefit. With regard to the location of Neolithic buildings, we conclude that choices about location dominated over practical considerations. Once a commitment to place was made, there was no turning back, even when this meant living in an unstable house that needed to be rebuilt repeatedly.

- by Maxime Brami and +1
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- Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Studies

The Emergence of the Goddess: A Study of Venus in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Era

The meaning of monumental buildings as an indicator of social complexity and the visible expression of power and authority has been a lasting topos in the field of archaeology. Now new evidence is coming from southeastern Turkey, showing that the origins of monumental architecture have to be sought as early as with the hunter‑gatherer groups at the end of the last Ice Age in the Near East twelve thousand years ago. At Göbekli Tepe, monumental, monolithic T‑shaped pillars were erected by mobile groups of the Early Neolithic constituting large circular enclosures and indicating a degree of coordination and cooperation among these people hitherto not suspected.

- by Oliver Dietrich and +1
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Archaeology, Archaeology of Religion

There are many reasons why the earliest pottery of East Asia is so interesting for researchers. One of them is that it is a unique source for reconstruction of cultural diversity within Late Pleistocene. According to Russian archaeologists, for such reconstruction it is necessary to find out how pots were made (clay paste composition, way of shaping, surface treatment, firing and decorating) and how pots looked. Based on this perspective it is possible to divide the earliest ceramic assemblages of East Asia into three groups. First of them include the Incipient Jomon ones, their differentia is plain (without rough surface treatment) pottery ornamented by hands (pinch, nail impression, clay application) and a comparatively high level of unification. Second group comprises Osipovka assemblages compactly located within the Low Amur river basin. They are quite polymorphous but have common distinctive traits such as grog temper, comb design of different pattern and combing surface treatment. The third group is the most extended and diverse. Its key feature is only cord surface treatment in a very special manner of rolling of a cord wrapped stick. Astoundingly, the assemblages with this trait occupy the territory from southernmost China to Transbaikalia (Studenoe-1, Ust-Karenga), and Middle Amur river basin (Gromatukha). So, it is possible to say they have Inner-Asia spatial distribution. Thus, we can see three different areas of spatial distribution of earliest ceramic assemblages within the eastern part of Asia. Tracking their Holocene fate, we can find confirmation of such conclusion and suppose that Sakhalin, North Hokkaido and Russia Maritime form the forth e non-ceramic e area in Late Pleistocene.

This study deals with four developmental phases in the Neolithic which the author calls "Modes I-IV", thus introducing a yet unknown but necessary and helpful differentation into the scientific reflections on the Neolithic. Mode I, starting around 10,000 BCE, consists in the establishment of two most important cultural innovations: agriculture (the first appearance of producing economy)and sedentariness. Mode II, up from 8,900 BCE, additionally comprises the domestication of small hoof-animals (sheep and goats) by the female labor-collective. In this context occurs a discovery of extreme significance: The interrelation of sexuality and pregnancy is realized. In Mode III, starting around 7,000 BCE, the male labor-collective succeeds in domesticating bovids as herd animals what opens the door for the stepwise proceeding hierarchization of society, the social downgrading of women, and the concomitant ´Invention of the Gods´. Mode IV, up from 4,000 BCE, is characterized by the domestication of equids (horses and donkeys), what facilitates a yet unknown militarization of society.

- by Horst Tran
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- Gender Studies, Gender History, War Studies, Gender and Sexuality
- by Lee Clare
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- Anatolian Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Transition, Neolithic

- by Oliver Dietrich and +1
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- Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, History of Religion

Many economists have recently tried to explain the diverse levels of economic development of countries by studying their trajectories during past eras and in recent history. Special attention has been given to the influences on contemporary societies of relevant developments in prehistory and more particularly, those arising from the Neolithic revolution, i.e. the transition from foraging to farming. This transition from simple to complex hunting and gathering and then to farming is a sequence couched in social evolutionary terms. It suggests a pattern of progressive development resulting in increasing cultural complexity. In this evolutionary scheme, simple hunter-gatherers develop into complex hunters and collectors, whose critical economic decisions are a consequence of climatic changes that inevitably lead them to irreversibly adopt agriculture. Although this pattern of development is widely accepted, we challenge it. Studies of past and recent hunting and gathering societies show an incredible diversity of human social organization through time. Similarly, the various centers where agriculture started during the Neolithic period display great diversity in terms of their genesis, nature and consequences. The nature of the spread of agriculture from the Levant to Europe displays diversity. Demic diffusion and cultural diffusion were both present, and generated a variety of diffusion processes. This diversity of human societies is not easily accounted for by social evolutionary processes; indeed, people’s understanding of the world directly influences the economic decisions they make. The development of agriculture eventually generated an economic surplus. This (combined with increasing social and economic inequalities), another feature of the Neolithic revolution, led to economic growth and therefore to the long-term dominance of agropastoralists societies. Inequality (the appropriation by dominant classes of the economic surplus generated by agropastoralism and by stemming economic developments) was therefore a necessary early condition for increasing the chances of the survival and development of these societies; otherwise they would all have been caught in the Malthusian trap.

- by Clement Tisdell and +1
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- Agriculture, Social Evolution, Inequality (Economics), Neolithic Transition

In this paper we look at the process of Neolithisation by examining the patterning of stable isotope data in the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition from two ends of the continent: south-east and north-west Europe. The accounts we can provide based on the current evidence reveal some differences, but also many similarities. The comparative perspective may offer some benefit to our understanding of wider processes while we keep an eye on the detail at regional and site levels – an important lesson we both learned from Alasdair.

- by Rick Schulting and +1
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- Stable Isotope Analysis, Mesolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Palaeodiet