Pre-pottery Neolithic a
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Recent papers in Pre-pottery Neolithic a
The most famous Pre-pottery Neolithic site of Anatolia, Göbekli Tepe, since 1994 has been the subject of intensive studies due to its peculiar characteristics, linked to the presence of both circular buildings and the so-called... more
The most famous Pre-pottery Neolithic site of Anatolia, Göbekli Tepe, since 1994 has been the subject of intensive studies due to its peculiar characteristics, linked to the presence of both circular buildings and the so-called anthropomorphic T-shaped pillars. It was supposed that its discovery would have been one of a kind, but in the next few years scholars revealed the existence of similar settlements in the area of Şanlıurfa Province. These sites, still far from being investigated, share with Göbekli Tepe the same archaeological evidences, including chronological features, size and architectural and iconographic traits. The aim of this article is to focus on the new available data, which could lead us to re-discuss the interpretive models valid up to a few years ago, as recent publications point out. New interpretive tools and excavations are required to better understand what seems to be the clue of the presence of a real cultural facies with precise connotations, amongst whic...
A new PPNA settlement comes to be added to the few known sites of this period in
شناخت آیین¬های اولیه از طریق بررسی نمادگرایی و ارتباط آن با تحولات معیشتی بشر، بخش مهمی از باستانشناسی پیش از تاریخ به شمار میرود. بعضی از محققین اعتقاد دارند که در اواخر دورة فراپارینهسنگی و همزمان با تغییرات جوی پس از پلئیستوسن،... more
شناخت آیین¬های اولیه از طریق بررسی نمادگرایی و ارتباط آن با تحولات معیشتی بشر، بخش مهمی از باستانشناسی پیش از تاریخ به شمار میرود. بعضی از محققین اعتقاد دارند که در اواخر دورة فراپارینهسنگی و همزمان با تغییرات جوی پس از پلئیستوسن، باورها و آیین-های جدیدی به¬وجود آمدند که میل به تسلط بر طبیعت وحشی از ویژگی¬های بنیادی آنها بود. در این دورة گذار، در جنوب شرقی ترکیه، یکی از برجستهترین نمادگراییهای آیینی دورة نوسنگی اولیه، در گوبکلیتپه، واقع در شمال شرقی شهر اورفا، ظاهر شده که مشخصة اصلی آن، نیایشگاههای کلانسنگی با ستونهای Tشکل عظیم است. روی بعضی از این ستون¬ها تصاویر جانوران وحشی، همچون شیر، روباه، گراز، گاو وحشی، مار، کرکس، عقرب، گاه بطور مجرد و گاه جمعی، حکاکی شده است. در همین منطقه، پنج محوطة باستانی دیگر با همین ویژگی، اما اندکی جدیدتر، به نام¬های نوالیچوری، کاراهانتپه، تاشلیتپه، هامزانتپه و سفرتپه وجود دارند که بر خلاف گوبکلیتپه، علیرغم داشتن نیایشگاه، مسکونی نیز بودهاند. احتمال میرود، این ستون¬های سنگی، تجسم نمادین انسان¬هایی (شاید شامانها) بوده باشند که جانوران وحشی را تحت تسلط خود در آوردهاند. این نوع نیایشگاههای کلانسنگی، از اواسط هزارة دهم ق.م محل پرستش و اجرای شعایر آیینی خاصی بودهاند که احتمالاً متروک شدن آنها با رویداد اهلیسازی گیاهان و جانوران و تغییر ساز و کارهای عمدة معیشتی انسان از حالت شکارگر- جمعآورنده به دامپرور-کشاورز در ارتباط بوده است.
The HLC (Heritage-Landscape-Community) archaeological metaproject, carried out since 2016 by the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,... more
The HLC (Heritage-Landscape-Community) archaeological metaproject, carried out since 2016 by the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, targets the archaeological heritage of southern Jordan (Tafila region), focusing currently on remains of the Early Bronze Age and earlier cultures that were found in the region. The project has already identified and verified several previously undocumented or poorly documented sites. Its main objective is to establish chronological phasing of human activity in this microregion, particularly during the Early Bronze Age, and to assess the scale and nature of human presence in that period. Two sites, Faysaliyya and Munqata'a, were excavated within the frame of the project. The article presents the preliminary results of this work. An important side issue is the protection of Jordanian heritage in the Tafila region through the identification of natural and human agents that may damage or destroy it.
The research of the Kaizer Hill site (the Hilltop and its Terraces), recognized as a Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) quarry site, involved studies of the rock damage associated with the quarrying activities as well as of the recovered... more
The research of the Kaizer Hill site (the Hilltop and its Terraces), recognized as a Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) quarry site, involved studies of the rock damage associated with the quarrying activities as well as of the recovered material remains, mostly chipped stone artifacts. We present here the results of our on-site explorations (excavations, surveys and surfacecollections), focusing on the findings deriving from the Terraces. Diverse rock damage patterns were identified and described, portraying systematic rock mass-exploitation through quarrying fronts, natural rock joints and fissures enlargement, drilling and chiseling. There are multiple indications that the local bedrock (Bi'na Formation, Turonian) comprising flint and limestone was quarried under a systematic quality evaluation, leaving residual flint unsuitable for exploitation. Of interest to note that nearly all of the flint artifacts excavated and collected on the Terraces were made on raw material transported from the Hilltop (Mishash Formation, Campanian), knapped in-situ, on the quarried rock surfaces of the slopes. The flint tools bear witness to intensive use involving mainly boring and drilling. The dominant tool type is the flint axe for which a variety of waste products related to its production were found in-situ, enabling the reconstruction of axe reduction sequence. Similar axes and waste products were found in many PPN sites indicating that there was a common, widely-used scheme of making flint axes during the PPN. Interestingly, besides the flint waste, there were also limestone waste products typical of the last shaping and thinning stages of axe production, indicating that limestone axes were shaped technologically similar to the flint ones, contrary to what has been assumed before. Rare findings, such as obsidian pieces, originating from much further a-field indicate ties with other PPN communities, near and/or far. Overall, this study provides unique and novel insights on Levantine PPN lifeways.
A ‘faith system’ can be based on some simple beliefs on supernatural beings, but the ‘organized religion’ is characterized by a ‘faith-based doctrine’ with standardize worships, hierarchical structures, and organization of dogmatic rules... more
A ‘faith system’ can be based on some simple beliefs on supernatural beings, but the ‘organized religion’ is characterized by a ‘faith-based doctrine’ with standardize worships, hierarchical structures, and organization of dogmatic rules and practices. The organized religion has been involving human individuals and social groups to be valued parts of a “greater community”. Although archaeological evidence take the earliest practice of supernatural beliefs back to 80,000 to 100,000 years before present, the senses of organized and intercommunal religious practices apparently did not began to evolve until the beginning of Neolithic throughout tenth millennium BC. The first sedentary people groups of different Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) sites in Upper Mesopotamia such as Körtiktepe, Göbeklitepe, Çayönü, Tell ‘Abr 3, Jerf el Ahmar, Hasankeyif Höyük, Nevali Çori, and Qermez Dere often engaged with communal feast and constructed cult buildings, served their communal interest for centuries. Over time, some of these spiritual centers and sanctuaries became the promoter of intercommunal complex ritual systems, maybe the earliest form of ‘organized religion’. Citing some examples from these communal buildings as well as intercommunal and interregional shared symbolism, we attempt to review the position of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in Upper Mesopotamia in the origin and development of organized form of religion.
The earliest Neolithic of southwest Asia is generally perceived and portrayed as a period of emerging economic practices that anticipated full-fledged food-producing economies. This first Neolithic, however, can also be seen as the last... more
The earliest Neolithic of southwest Asia is generally perceived and portrayed as a period of emerging economic practices that anticipated full-fledged food-producing economies. This first Neolithic, however, can also be seen as the last gasp of an earlier way of life that remained fundamentally Epipaleolithic in character. While people at this time had begun to cultivate some of the plant foods gathered in preceding periods, and to live for lengthy periods in sites with substantial architecture, they also relied on hunting for a significant portion of their diet and logistical movement across landscapes to exploit diverse environments. The objective of our research on Nachcharini Cave, the only excavated early Neolithic site in the high mountains of northeastern Lebanon, is to evaluate its role in a form of logistical organization not well attested at other sites in the Levant during this period. On the basis of material that Bruce Schroeder excavated in the 1970s, we present here for the first time analyses of faunal and lithic evidence from Nachcharini Cave, along with new radiocarbon dates that place the major occupation layer of the site firmly in the earliest Neolithic. We conclude that Nachcharini was a short-term hunting camp that was periodically used over some two centuries.
- by Edward B Banning and +1
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- Pre-pottery Neolithic a
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