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Tell 'Abr 3, un village du Néolithique précéramique (PPNA) sur le Moyen-Euphrate. Première approche
Abstract
Tell 'Abr 3 est un site néolithique du 9e millénaire av. J.C. (Mureybetien, horizon PPNA) situé sur la rive gauche de l'Euphrate en Djézireh syrienne. L Outillage lithique est similaire à celui de la phase III de Mureybet et à celui des sites de Cheikh Hassan (fouilles 1976), de Jerfel Ahmar et de tell Qaramel. Le reste de la culture matérielle comporte, entre autres, des vases de calcaire et de basalte, des plaquettes gravées, des pierres à rainure et des bâtons polis. Mais le caractère le plus marquant de tell Abr 3 est la présence d'une construction circulaire enterrée d'environ 12 m de diamètre et dotée d'une grande richesse ornementale. L'ornementation et la découverte de dépôts de bucranes d'aurochs à l'intérieur d'une banquette suggèrent, comme à Jerf el Ahmar, une sacralisation de l'édifice. Tell Abr 3 is a Neolithic site dated to the ninth millennium BC (Mureybetian, PPNA horizon) situated on the left bank of the Euphrates in the Syrian-Jazirah. The chipped stone industry is similar to that of phase III at Mureybet, and to that at Jérfel Ahmar and Cheikh Hassan. The other archaeological materials in stone include vessels in limestone and basalt, small engraved plaques, shaft straigthners and long polished stones. However, the most remarkable character of Tell 'Abr 3 is the presence of a circular building (12 m in diameter), richly decorated. Such decoration and finds of deposits of aurochs bucrans inside a bench as at Jerf el Ahmar suggest the sacred character of communal building.
... Abr 3 on the Euphrates features both representations of horned animals and actual skulls with horns, or horns alone, as foundation deposits. An aurochs horn core was recovered from the base of a post hole in which had lodged a pillar supporting the roof of the communal building (Yartah 2004: Fig. 6b) and an aurochs skull was embedded in the bench (Yartah 2004 : Fig. 7). Immediately in front of the aurochs skull was a stone slab that supported a pillar. ...
... Immediately in front of the aurochs skull was a stone slab that supported a pillar. The slab was engraved with a geometric motif and also with a gazelle in profile (Yartah 2004 : Fig. 10). The horns were the salient element of the gazelle. ...
... Also from the site but without context, were four stone slabs found by the local villagers prior to the excavation. Two feature engraved solar motifs, also found at Jerf el Ahmar (Yartah 2004: 147, Fig. 14), and the other two feature frontal representations of horned aurochs in relief (Yartah 2004: Fig. 15:1, 2). WR16, a site south of the Dead Sea in southern Jordan, features a communal building, 075, measuring 20 m in diameter. ...
... The results of these PPN excavations put forward the idea that throughout the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene the earliest sedentary groups across the Middle Euphrates and Upper Tigris Basin often exchanged beliefs and ideas, and often used similar kinds of symbols with both their neighboring and distant PPN sites, given that much imagery including snakes, scorpions or spiders commonly appeared with PPN artifacts across Upper Mesopotamia (Benz and Bauer, 2013;Dietrich et al., 2012;Karul, 2011;Kodaş, 2019;Mazurowski, 2004;Mazurowski and Kanjou, 2012;Ö zkaya and Coşkun, 2011;Yartah, 2004). However, regional variation was also a reality among these PPN centers, given that while most of the communal buildings in the Middle Euphrates Basin were built with T-shaped pillars and often depicted animal imagery (Çelik, 2011;Hauptmann, 2011;Schmidt, 2011), most of the communal buildings in the Tigris Basin were built without large monolithic pillars; and even in exceptional cases of the use of monoliths (Karul, 2011;Kodaş, 2019;Watkins, 1995), they were not in T-shaped Burial M7 in the Trench A44 at Körtiktepe accompanied by rich grave goods: left) spatial context of the human skeleton and associate burial artifacts; right) three painted bone plaquettes and other burial goods unearthed from the burial. ...
... Of the three animal images on the painted bone plaquettes of Körtiktepe, snakes become a ubiquitous symbol during the PPNA represented on a variety of media, including pebbles at Jerf el-Ahmar (Stordeur, 2015), Tell 'Abr 3 (Yartah, 2004), and Tell Qaramel (Mazurowski and Jamous, 2001;Mazurowski and Kanjou, 2012), on the animistic pillars of Göbeklitepe (Peters and Schmidt, 2004) and Karahan Tepe (Çelik, 2011), on the back of the head of a near-human-size figure at Nevalı Çori (Hauptmann, 2011, p. 75), and on the bone plaquette of Gusir Höyük (Karul, 2020, p. 91). They are also widely present on the stone vessels at Körtiktepe (Özkaya, 2009;Ö zkaya and Coşkun, 2011). ...
... We are cautious about drawing conclusions in the absence of a formal statistical study but note that WF16 has a greater abundance of cross-hatched, wavy, zigzag and parallel lines than found elsewhere in the Natufian and PPNA of the Southern Levant, such as at Netiv Hagdud, ZAD2 and Nahal Ein Gev (Bar-Yosef & Gopher 1997;Edwards 2007;Grosman et al. 2016). Such designs are ubiquitous in the north, with those from Tell Qaramel, Tell 'Abr 3, Göbekli Tepe, Hallan Çemi (Mazurowski 2003;Yartah 2004;Rosenberg 2011a;Dietrich 2021) and others, having similarities to those found on decorated stone vessels, stone plaques and shaft straighteners from WF16 (Mithen et al. 2018: fig. 35.19; Figure 4). ...
... The interest in raptors at WF16 is also echoed in the north, with depictions at Göbekli Tepe, Jerf el Ahmar and Tell 'Abr 3 (Stordeur & Abbès 2002;Yartah 2004;Peters et al. 2005). These birds have been proposed as symbols of death and as part of a shamanistic ideology (Hodder & Meskell 2011;Benz & Bauer 2015). ...
During the Late Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic, societies across the Levant transformed their social, cultural and economic organisation, with new forms of food production, architecture and material culture. But to what extent were regional developments connected and how, in particular, did ideas and objects flow between the most southern and northern reaches of Southwest Asia? Finds from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of WF16 in southern Jordan resonate with those from Göbekli Tepe and other sites hundreds of kilometres to the north. Emphasising shared symbolism and ideology, the authors explore how connections may have arisen and how they were maintained, revealing expansive social networks spanning Southwest Asia that underpinned the emergence of farming.
... This said, it is important to outline that they did so only in ways that are actually in line with the general dynamism of early Neolithic architecture. First, it may be useful to specify that, in contrast to the impression given by photographs, the surfaces of all these buildings, except for some interior elements, such as the decorated stelas of Göbekli Tepe (Peters and Schmidt 2004), Jerf el-Ahmar (Stordeur 2015, plate 110), or Tell 'Abr (Yartah 2004), were covered with clay and plaster. As such, they were the focus of the same repetitive practices as the rest of the architecture. ...
Revivals of public interest in the Neolithic Near East have generally coincided with the emergence of powerful imagery, such as the discovery of Çatalhöyük’s striking wall paintings in the 1960s. Now, sixty years later, the sculptures of Göbekli Tepe are ensuring the period’s widespread appeal. The capacity of these well-preserved buildings to carry such imagery until today has made them, in turn, an image of the supposed achievements of Neolithic sedentism. But the popularity of these images depends on their decontextualization. This modernist notion that permanent architecture represents the conquest of spatial forms over time is in contradiction with the early Neolithic experience of settled life, which had more to do with the unstable duration of places than with an emancipation from motion. This essay explores the Neolithic preference for earth architecture over more stable construction materials such as stone, its influence on visual culture, and how it contributed to building new living relations to the inhabited landscape. Instead of the sense of fixity and completeness that we, moderns, desperately seek in plans, reconstructions, and monumentality, it is the very transience, repetitiveness, and cumulativeness of earth that determined the transformations of the archaeological record. In other words, rhythms are key to understanding Neolithic sedentism in ways that differ wildly from the static images we have substituted for it.
... Dja'de el-Mughara (Coqueugniot 2000(Coqueugniot , 2014 has an annual average rainfall of about 300 mm and is situated 50 km upstream from Jerf el-Ahmar. Tell 'Abr 3 (Yartah 2004(Yartah , 2005 is situated about 25 km farther north in an area with an annual rainfall similar to that of Dja'de el-Mughara. ...
Charred remains of wild rye from five sites in the Middle Euphrates region in Syria dated to the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene are examined. This period spans the transition from gathering to the beginnings of cultivation. Today wild rye cannot grow in the region because temperatures and aridity are too pronounced. Wild rye grains and wild two-grained einkorn are morphologically similar, which has led to difficulties in identification; in some cases rye may have been identified as two-grained einkorn or as Triticum/Secale. In this paper, with reference to modern specimens and re-examination of charred material from Dja’de el-Mughara, Jerf el-Ahmar and Mureybet, we examine the criteria for identification and revise the results for charred caryopses and wild spikelet bases. We then present these new results which show that at the early Neolithic sites of Jerf el-Ahmar, Mureybet, Dja’de el-Mughara and Tell ‘Abr 3 wild rye frequencies are much higher than einkorn but wild barley is the dominant cereal. This is followed by discussions of how and why wild rye may have been exploited during the early Neolithic and why rye disappears from Euphrates sites with the advent of mixed farming.
... Yukarı Dicle Havzasının Körtiktepe, Gusir Höyük ve Hasankeyf Höyük merkezlerinde, kemik plaklara tasvir edilen yılanlar, akrepler ve böcekler kültürel sanatın en iyi buluntularını veren yerleşim merkezleridir. Benzer hayvan tasvirleri Göbeklitepe ve Karahan Tepe "T" şeklindeki dikilitaşlarda, Tell Brak 3'teki duvar stellerinde ise sürüngenler ve eklembacaklılar dışında büyük, küçük memeliler ve kuşlar işlenen yaygın konular olarak karşımıza çıkarlar (Çelik, 2011;Peters & Schmidt, 2004;Yartah, 2004). Yılan, akrep ve böcek gibi tasvirler, muhtemelen zehirli ve tehditkâr canlılar olduklarından dolayı , kaynağı korku olan saygının verdiği düşünce ile betimlendikleri düşünülür. ...
Yukarı Dicle Havzası’nın Neolitik yerleşimleri, tarihöncesi insan-hayvan ve çevre ilişkileri hakkında oldukça önemli veriler sunmaktadır. Havzada, günümüze kadar 10 farklı yerleşim merkezinin bazılarında tespit edilen zooarkeolojik veriler sonucunda, yaklaşık 55.046 küsur hayvan kemiği kalıntısı açığa çıkartılarak incelenmiştir. Hayvan kemiklerinin yanı sıra, dönemin çevresel koşullarının anlaşılmasını sağlayan botanik kalıntılar, sosyal organizasyonlarını gösteren konut yapıları, avcılık faktörlerine ilişkin taş alet endüstrileri ve inanç biçimlerini gösteren sembolik ürünler de bulunmaktadır. Bütün bu bulgular, Yukarı Dicle Havzası’nın Neolitik kültürü başta olmak üzere, Batı Asya’nın tarihöncesi insan-hayvan ve çevre ilişkilerinin anlaşılmasında önemli katkılar sağlayabilecek nitelikte veriler sunmaktadır. Ayrıca antrozoolojik veriler, günümüzün pastoral ve agro-pastoral toplulukların insan-hayvan ilişkilerinin gelişimi doğrultusunda, Yukarı Dicle Havzası Neolitik topluluklarının hayvanlarla olan ilişkilerine ışık tutarak, etno-zooarkeolojik bir değerlendirme yapabilmemize imkân sağlamaktadır.
... Ideological, religious and cognitive changes have been asserted to explain these differences (Cauvin 1976;Hodder 1990;Watkins 2004). With the discovery of impressive cult centres and communal buildings at sites such as Göbekli Tepe (Schmidt 2006), Jerf el Ahmar (Stordeur et al. 2000), 'Abr 3 (Yartah 2004), Sefer Tepe and Karahan Tepe (Çelik 2000; 2006), and Hallan Çemi (Rosenberg and Davis 1992), religious and social factors have been emphasized even more than before (cf. Hayden 1992;Bender 1978). ...
This article suggests that Neolithization in the Near East was a long-term, dialectical process between environmental and cultural changes - a process of 'path-dependencies'. I show that a different perception of landscapes did not cause the adoption of agriculture, but rather that at the beginning of the Holocene traditional hunter-gatherer's behaviour patterns and perferences led to the durable adoption of a sedentary way of life. In these villages new social rules became necessary which then led in turn to a completely new structuring of the landscape. I argue that, according to an ethno-archaeological model, generalized reciprocity - the principle of sharing with other people and groups - had to be restricted before cultivation could be adopted permanently. Group identities then had to be intensified by visible symbols and territorial markers. The communal buildings of the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic and intensified ritual practices could thus be interpreted as means to counteract the strains caused by the new social order.
For a full version of the ethno-archaeological model see "Die Neolithisierung im Vorderen Orient" with an English summary:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329117350_Die_Neolithisierung_im_Vorderen_Orient_Theorien_archaologische_Daten_und_ein_ethnologisches_Modell_SENEPSE_7_2000_Berlin_ex_oriente
... Le bois peut servir de matériau de construction (Natterer, 2004). Cette utilisation est attestée depuis longtemps, au néolithique (Salanova and Sohn, 2012;Yartah, 2004), en Syrie à l'âge du bronze (Amorós, 2013) ou encore chez les Romains (Adam, 1984;Clément et al., 2019). En effet, grâce à ses propriétés mécaniques remarquables, le bois est un matériau résistant qui convient à de nombreuses activités, construction, ameublement, emballage, construction navale, etc... Le bois peut aussi être utilisé pour la production de produits dérivés comme les panneaux de particules (Jaudon, 1970), les panneaux de fibres (Voreux, 1987), les panneaux de lamelles orientées (OSB) (Masson and Trouy-Triboulot, 2003) ou bien du bois lamellé-collé (Crubilé, 1972) après association avec de la colle. ...
Dans un contexte de renouvellement de l'industrie chimique et de recherche de nouveaux débouchés pour la foresterie, les extractibles deviennent des molécules de plus en plus intéressantes, tant écologiquement que financièrement parlant. Afin d'évaluer la pertinence de ces molécules comme nouvelle ressource pour la chimie et potentiel débouché pour la foresterie, il est nécessaire de faire une évaluation préalable de la ressource. Ceci nécessite de connaître le volume des compartiments riches en extractibles, particulièrement les écorces et les nœuds. La présente étude s'intéresse donc à la modélisation des volumes d'écorce et de nœuds. Elle se concentre spécifiquement sur deux régions françaises, le Grand Est et la Bourgogne-Franche-Comté et six essences d'importance, Abies alba, Picea abies, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quercus robur, Quercus patraea, Fagus sylvatica.Cette étude est rendue possible grâce à l'utilisation d'une grande base de données comprenant des mesures d'épaisseur d'écorce pratiquées à différentes hauteurs sur la tige de nombreux arbres. D'autre part de nouveaux échantillonnages ont eu lieu ce qui a permis d'obtenir, grâce à l'utilisation d'un scanner à rayon X, une image informatique des nœuds et d'en mesurer précisément le volume.Afin de modéliser la quantité d'écorce disponible trois types de modèles ont été construits, des modèles de prédiction du volume d'écorce, des modèles de prédiction de la surface d'écorce le long de la tige et des modèles de prédiction de l'épaisseur d'écorce à 1m30. Les premiers ont permis d'atteindre une racine de l'erreur quadratique moyenne relative (RMSErel) comprise entre 16.7 % et 27.5 % en fonction des espèces.L'étude portant sur les modèles de surface d'écorce a permis de mettre en évidence la possibilité d'utiliser un modèle indépendant du diamètre-sur-écorce mais que les modèles utilisant en entrée cet variable sont encore plus précis. Le RMSErel atteint par ces modèles de surface d'écorce varie entre 23 et 38 % en fonction de l'espèce et du modèle considéré. Ce travail a montré l'importance de l'utilisation de l'épaisseur d'écorce à 1m30 comme donnée d'entrée. Celle-ci n'étant aujourd'hui que rarement mesurée, elle a aussi été modélisée à partir du D130. Cela a permis de mettre en évidence une influence de l'altitude sur l'épaisseur d'écorce à 1m30 pour trois espèces : Abies alba, Picea abies, Fagus sylvatica. Les modèles obtenus atteignent un RMSErel allant de 26.8 % à 36 % en fonction de l'espèce considérée.Enfin, les volumes de nœuds ont commencé à être étudiés. Bien que ce travail n'ai pas été entièrement mené, il montre déjà l'importance de produire de nouveaux modèles de volume de nœuds. De plus leur quantité dans le bois semble, à ce stade de l'étude, trop peu importante pour dégager de grandes ressources en extractible, malgré leur grande richesse intrinsèque. Leur intérêt pourrait donc plus se trouver dans l'extraction de molécules spécifiques.
... This initial research, and the theories put forward, have an important place in studies of the sociocultural structures, belief systems, understanding of symbolism and rituals of southwest Asian Neolithic communities, including research being carried out today. Through the excavations carried out since the 1980s at Qermez Dere (Watkins, 1987;Watkins et al., 1989), Nemrik 9 (Kempisty, 1990) and Nevali Çori (Hauptmann, 2011) and particularly since the 1990s at Göbekli Tepe and the restarted Çatalhöyük excavation, and also at Jerf el-Ahmar (Hodder, 1996;Schmidt, 2012;Stordeur, 2014), and during the 2000s at Dja 'de, Körtik Tepe, Gusir Höyük, Hasankeyf Höyük, Tell Qaramel, Tell Abr 3, Çemka Höyük, Boncuklu Tarla and Körtik Tepe (Coqueugniot, 2009;Karul, 2011;Kodaş, 2019a;Kodaş et al., 2020a;Mazurowski and Kanjou, 2012;Miyake et al., 2012;Ö zkaya and Coşkun, 2011;Yartah, 2004) a basis has been established for new perspectives and interpretations of the figurative art of the Neolithic of northern Mesopotamia (Benz and Bauer, 2013;Dietrich and Notroff, 2016;Kodaş, 2019b;Lichter, 2007;Schmidt, 2012). As a result of the archaeological excavations in northern Mesopotamia, new archaeological finds unearthed in Neolithic settlements, which are thought to be of symbolic/ ritual significance and that give information about the figurative art of the period, are increasing in number every day, and new theories on the depiction, art and belief systems of the period are being put forward (Benz and Bauer, 2013;Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen, 2014;Kodaş, 2019b;Lichter, 2007;Verhoeven, 2001). ...
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https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1eTrf-JVbvBQA
Among the artefacts of fundamental importance in the context of symbolism and iconography during the Neo-lithization process in northern Mesopotamia, there is much research about, and publication relating to, human figurines or statues, animal figurines or statues, figured stone objects, stone vessels, bone plaques, wall decoration (paint, relief, or incision) and stone pillars. While among these various research topics bone plaques have been noticeably less studied than other classes of small finds, they are gradually gaining importance. From the figurative and typological perspective, these objects carry importance for their visual characteristics and their regional variety, but it is notable that their typological differences and functions are still not well understood. This study opens a new debate about the techno-typological characteristics, regional distribution, and modes of use of these objects starting from a group of bone plaques recovered from burial contexts during the excavations of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement of Boncuklu Tarla in southeast Turkey. Portable symbolic artefacts are found to show significant overlaps between materials, iconography and use as well as regional identities and temporal continuities in techniques and decoration.
Le site de Çemka Höyük, situé sur les rives du Tigre, est un établissement néolithique mis au jour par les fouilles de sauvetage effectuées pendant la construction du barrage d’Ilısu. Ces opérations ont révélé la présence de deux bâtons polis anthropomorphiques. Cet article en souligne l’originalité au sein du corpus iconographique pour le Néolithique proche-oriental et participe à une interrogation plus large concernant la diversité culturelle des sociétés néolithiques dans le nord de la Mésopotamie.
يتناول هذا البحث فكرة تجسيد الإنسان والحيوان في الفنون العائدة لمراحل ما قبل التاريخ حتى نهاية النيوليثيك ما قبل الفخار في بلاد الشام وشبه الجزيرة العربية، من خلال المقارنة بين الفن الصخري لشبه الجزيرة العربية، والفنون الجدارية والمنقولة في بلاد الشام، لمعرفة كيفية تصوير الانسان والحيوان والفارق بينهما، وتحليل تلك الآثار لاستخلاص نتائج تتعلق بالأنشطة الاجتماعية والفردية، والمفاهيم الرمزية عند تلك الجماعات، وعلاقتها مع البيئة والكائنات التي تعيش فيها.
يتناول البحث بالدراسة بدايةَ استخدام النُّصب في بلاد الشام والأناضول منذ العصر الحجري القديم الأعلى ومراحل تطور استخدامها في الفترات التالية حتى نهاية العصر الحجري الحديث الفخاري، كما يتناول وظيفة النُّصب والتنوُّع في أنماطها، خاصَّةً في العصر الحجري الحديث ما قبل الفخاري، المرتبطة ارتباطًا وثيًقا بالفكر الديني من خلال تواجدها في المباني الطقسية والمدافن والتزيينات الزخرفية بالتشكيلات الحيوانية والبشرية المنحوتة عليها؛ حيث يتبيَّن أنها لم تقتصر على الأعمدة الحجرية، بل شملت كذلك اللوحات الحجرية. وبينت الدراسة مدى أهمية النُّصب في معتقدات إنسان عصور ما قبل التاريخ وأفكاره؛ لأنها من الدلائل المهمَّة التي اشتملت على جانب مهم من الفكر الإنساني وما قدَّمه للمجتمع الإنساني من أُسُسٍ للتطوُّر الحضري.
Knowledge of the burial customs of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) in the Near East is increasing. Particularly, lately a large number of burials and skeletal remains have been unearthed in the Upper Tigris Basin, thanks to a number of new excavation projects in recent years. The newly revealed findings indicate that PPNA burial customs varied considerably in the region from site to site. However, the 10th millennium BCE burial C ̧H 2019/05 at C ̧emka Ho ̈ yu ̈ k shows as well that there are also different burial practices with in settlements. C ̧H 2019/05 belongs to a female individual, accompanied by animal skeletal elements, who appears to may have been a shaman or at least had been buried by someone practicing ways associated with what we understand nowadays as animism or shamanism. Hence, the burial may represent one of the earliest known examples of its kind in an Anatolian Neolithic context.
The frequency of twin steles (or pillars) in the symbolism of Neolithic Southwestern
Asia is remarkable. A non-exhaustive yet noteworthy collection of such compositi�ons in major regions is herein presented: Urfa district, Tigris basin, North and South Levant, Central and Western Anatolia. Monumental in symbolic structures (Göbekli Tepe), conspicuous in communal buildings (Qermez Dere, Nevali Çori), more discreet (Jerf, Ain Ghazal) but omnipresent (Çatalhöyük, Beidha) in storage/domestic spaces, these isomorphic compositions always take center stage. This parallel arrangement also has a large echo in the contemporaneous iconography (reliefs, statues, paintings).Because of its pervasiveness, centrality and/or size, the isomorphic symbol doubtlessly holds a fundamental meaning for Neolithic people. Ethnology provides a particularly convincing analogy: isomorphism appears just as overarching in Neolithic symbolism as the dualist principle (or exogamy) does in the ideology of pre-state societies. The former appearing as the symbolic representation of the latter, such correspondence cannot be a coincidence and finds a sociological explanation. Finally, the outstanding display of this symbol follows everywhere the emergence of farmers, structurally quite distinct from previous (inward-looking) hunter-gatherers: isomorphism and twin steles are understood as a strong conservative reaction against the emerging “complex-type” (outward-looking) marital pattern inherent in the far�ming social system.
Keywords: Symbolism, twin steles, Neolithic, socio-archaeology, incipient farming,
kinship archaeolog
From the Upper Palaeolithic to the present, birds constituted a marginal motif in the extensive corpus of human artistic expression. Only one episode of human history stands out as an exception: the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A of the Near East (c. 9800–8700 BC). During this time, numerous bird representations occur at many sites across the region: Gilgal, Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet, Nemrik 9, Tell ‘Abr 3, Körtik Tepe and Karahan Tepe. At least four categories of bird imagery are notable: bird figurines, bird statues, miniature bird depictions and monumental bird depictions. Reviewing the available evidence, we suggest that this is related to the momentous transitions from a mobile hunter-gatherer way of life to a sedentary, and ultimately agricultural, economy. As humans moved to permanent settlements, they relinquished much of their mobility and began developing a calendrical agricultural economy. Birds were relevant in both respects. First, their capacity for flight echoed the relinquished mobile mode of living. Second, massive seasonal bird migrations signified the need to keep farming tasks on schedule and closely correlated with the annual cycle.
Upper Mesopotamia played a key role in the Neolithic Transition in Southwest Asia through marked innovations in symbolism, technology, and diet. We present 13 ancient genomes (c. 8500 to 7500 cal BCE) from Pre-Pottery Neolithic Çayönü in the Tigris basin together with bioarchaeological and material culture data. Our findings reveal that Çayönü was a genetically diverse population, carrying mixed ancestry from western and eastern Fertile Crescent, and that the community received immigrants. Our results further suggest that the community was organized along biological family lines. We document bodily interventions such as head shaping and cauterization among the individuals examined, reflecting Çayönü's cultural ingenuity. Last, we identify Upper Mesopotamia as the likely source of eastern gene flow into Neolithic Anatolia, in line with material culture evidence. We hypothesize that Upper Mesopotamia's cultural dynamism during the Neolithic Transition was the product not only of its fertile lands but also of its interregional demographic connections.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a contributing factor to the formation of communities and social hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
Le site de Boncuklu Tarla, dans la province de Mardin en Turquie, a été identifié en 2008 et est fouillé depuis 2012. Ces fouilles représentent une nouvelle occasion de retracer la chronologie complète du Néolithique précéramique dans la vallée du haut Tigre en raison de la présence de couches archéologiques allant de l’Épipaléolithique à la fin du PPNB récent. Dans la partie est de Boncuklu Tarla, les restes archéologiques du PPNA nous permettent également de voir l’architecture communautaire, domestique et l’organisation spatiale du village dans le contexte chronologique du Xe millénaire. Dans cette zone, nous avons identifié un bâtiment communautaire entouré de maisons. Des sépultures du PPNA ont été mises au jour dans ce secteur ainsi que du matériel lithique et des objets de prestige en pierre et en os. Ces données nouvelles nous permettent d’approfondir notre connaissance de la culture matérielle de la fin du Xe millénaire dans la vallée du haut Tigre.
The analysis of bucranium found in the settlements of the Pre-Ceramic Neolithic of the Western Asia showed the following: the finds today can be fairly accurately identified by species and sex and dated within the span from the last centuries of the 11th millennium BC to 7600—6000 BC. The study of the context of the use of Bos Primigenius skulls/bones in rooms and with a certain set of accompanying osteological material confirmed the assumptions made by domestic and foreign researchers that bucranium and their individual parts can be considered as a way of presenting not only important symbols, but also individual ceremonies. Reconstructions of the symbolic content of the bucranium presented in literature do not address the question of how it was translated in practice in the process of ritual actions. It is, therefore, relevant to assume that bucraniums could have another possible (practical) function: they could be used as masks. Some important evidence of the working hypothesis is offered by the finds from Cyprus — headforms made from the skulls of bulls and plastic arts used in cult with the image of anthropomorphic figures wearing a similar type of mask. The treatment of bucranium as masks suggests how the object’s meaning is translated through its direct practical application in ritual actions, with symbolic and practical functions complementing each other.
In the article a general overview of the first Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlements of the Zagros foothills zone of primary domestication is presented. The inner Zagros area, at an altitude of more than 1000 m above sea level, is the zone of the natural habitation of the wild ancestors of cultivated plants and small ungulates. In this area there are known long-term settlements of the earliest Pre-Pottery Neolithic stage, where the formation of a productive economy is documented. These settlements are dated from the second half of X-IX millennium BC. At the same time, the foothills of the Zagros are outside the natural habitat of the ancestors of cultivated plants and domestic animals. The earliest sedentary settlements in this part of the Zagros Mountains represent the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic stage, and are dated to the second half of the VIII millennium BC. These settlements were investigated in different natural-ecological zones - from foothill-steppe landscapes to the border with the alluvial plain of Southern Mesopotamia. At the same time, all the early Neolithic settlements of the Zagros foothills are placed in the zone of risky farming, insufficient to produce a sustainable crop in the modern conditions. This fact suggests that at the time of the initial human settlement, the humidity in this part of the Mesopotamian Lowlands was much greater than at present. The time of the primary sedentary development of the Zagros foothills and foothill plain coincides with the period of climatic optimum of the second half of the VIII millennium BC., which is currently traced both in the western and eastern parts of the Levantine-Mesopotamian lowlands. The finale of the Pre-Potery Neolithic settlements in the Zagros foothills can be associated with an exceptionally arid and sufficiently extended cycle dated from the end of VIII-VII millennium BC.
This chapter presents a summary of some of the results of Mazzucato’s doctoral dissertation; it assembles the work and suggestions of many of the members of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, and it is the outcome of the integration of a vast array of data collected by archaeologists and specialists during the 25 years of the Çatalhöyük Research Project. The current study explores the potential of network concepts and methods as a way to disentangle the dense set of relations that formed the social fabric of Neolithic Çatalhöyük at different chronological points during its development. It seeks to shed light on the dynamics of interconnectivity and cooperation between buildings, combining both an exploratory approach of observed networks and a hypothesis-testing methodology. For this study, networks are used as conceptual and methodological tools for integrating a range of archaeological data within a framework that privileges connections between entities instead of the entities in isolation.
This article uses results from the recent excavations at Çatalhöyük in Turkey to propose that continuous tensions between egalitarian and hierarchical impulses were dealt with in two principal ways during the Neolithic of the Middle East. A tendency towards overall balance and community (termed molar) is seen as in tension with more particulate and molecular tendencies, with both being brought into play in order to combat inequalities. It is also suggested that tendencies towards more molecular systems increased over time, at different rates and in different ways in different places, partly as a response to constraints associated with more molar articulations. Finally, it is proposed that a shift to molecular autonomy was associated with agricultural intensification. Staying egalitarian can be seen as an active process that contributed to the Neolithic transformations.
The rhythms and organisation of daily life at Çatalhöyük were influenced by seasonal variation in the natural and social world its residents navigated. Seasonal changes in day length, temperature and rainfall shape overall productivity of the landscape (Fairbairn et al. 2005a). These biophysical cycles would have been punctuated by seasonal changes in the composition of local plant and animal communities, the seasonal presence of migratory species, and particular cycles of growth and maturation among resident populations (e.g., Russell, McGowan 2003; Pels 2010; Haddow, Knüsel 2017). The conceptions of seasonal patterns and activities shaped the ways in which Çatalhöyük’s residents interacted with their local environments, and structured the timing and spatial requirements of necessary tasks (Ingold 2000; Fairbairn et al. 2005a).....
Deux tableaux de classification morphologique des fleches a encoches de Syrie sont presentes, l'un pour la vallee de l'Euphrate
(Mureybet) au IXe et VIIIe millenaires, l'autre poux la region de Damas (Tell Aswad, Tell Ramad) au VIIIe et VIle millenaires. Les
fleches commencent a l'Epinatoufien (vers 8300) avec des formes (" pointes d'El Khiam ") paraissant communes a tout le Levant.
Certains caracteres, comme les ailerons recurrents, paraissent par la suite davantage lies a la culture littorale ou ces fleches a
encoches persistent plus longtemps. Sur l'Euphrate elles disparaissent tres tot, tandis que s'y developpe une typologie nouvelle
paraissant a l'origine des industries littorales de type PPNB et Byblos.