Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Vitalities of Çatalhöyük
- Part I Vital Religion: The Evolutionary Context of Religion at Çatalhöyük
- 2 Different Strokes for Different Folks: Near Eastern Neolithic Mortuary Practices in Perspective
- 3 Excavating Theogonies: Anthropomorphic Promiscuity and Sociographic Prudery in the Neolithic and Now
- 4 Religion As Anthropomorphism at Çatalhöyük
- 5 The Historical Self: Memory and Religion at Çatalhöyük
- 6 Modes of Religiosity and the Evolution of Social Complexity at Çatalhöyük
- Part II Vital Materials at Çatalhöyük
- Part III Vital Data
- Postscript: On Devotion at Çatalhöyük
- Index
- References
2 - Different Strokes for Different Folks: Near Eastern Neolithic Mortuary Practices in Perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Vitalities of Çatalhöyük
- Part I Vital Religion: The Evolutionary Context of Religion at Çatalhöyük
- 2 Different Strokes for Different Folks: Near Eastern Neolithic Mortuary Practices in Perspective
- 3 Excavating Theogonies: Anthropomorphic Promiscuity and Sociographic Prudery in the Neolithic and Now
- 4 Religion As Anthropomorphism at Çatalhöyük
- 5 The Historical Self: Memory and Religion at Çatalhöyük
- 6 Modes of Religiosity and the Evolution of Social Complexity at Çatalhöyük
- Part II Vital Materials at Çatalhöyük
- Part III Vital Data
- Postscript: On Devotion at Çatalhöyük
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
How can one begin to address the questions pertinent to the ongoing discussion on religion, property, and power at early Neolithic Çatalhöyük? It seems that a productive avenue is to stand back and consider how Çatalhöyük integrates within the broader perspective of Southwest Asian (Near Eastern) Neolithization processes. Nevertheless, such an effort with regard to every aspect of human existence is a mighty endeavor, and certainly well beyond the scope of a single article, not to mention the humble competence of its authors. Given the special nature and prominence of burials at Çatalhöyük, we have chosen to focus specifically on that aspect of community behavior. We shall provide a background based on data from earlier periods within the broader region of Southwest Asia (the Near East), and most especially the southern Levant.
Burial practices are generally considered to reflect aspects of the symbolic/spiritual worldview of the populations involved. It has often been suggested that with the advent of sedentism and the beginnings of agricultural production (plant and animal domestication) there were significant changes in social organization and cohesion. Yet from the very beginning of our essay, we can state that the description of burial practices from the Late Epipaleolithic Natufian (as well as the scarce earlier evidence) through the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (and even Pre-Pottery Neolithic B [PPNB] and later) in the southern Levant indicates “business as usual,” in the sense that we can observe the same marked variability (of the same components more or less) continuing unchanged all through the period considered as revolutionary, encompassing changing paradigmatic worldviews. We shall attempt to relate to this issue of variability in the discussion following the presentation of the data.
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- Information
- Religion at Work in a Neolithic SocietyVital Matters, pp. 35 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
References
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