Different strokes for different folks: Near Eastern Neolithic mortuary practices in perspective

Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society: Vital Matters

Volumn , Issue , 2012, Pages 35-57

  Goring Morris, Nigel ^a   Belfer Cohen, Anna ^a  

^a HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84928641661     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107239043.004     Document Type: Chapter

References (94)

1. Akkermans, P. M. M. G., eds. 1996. Tell Sabi Abyad: The Late Neolithic Settlement. Leiden/Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut.
2. Arensburg, B., and Bar-Yosef, O. 1973. Human Remains from Ein Gev I, Jordan Valley, Israel. Paléorient 1: 201–206.
3. Baird, D. 2006. The Bon ç uklu Project: The Origins of Sedentism, Cultivation and Herding in Central Anatolia. Anatolian Archaeology 12: 13–16. 2010. Was Çatalhöyükacentre: The implications of a late Aceramic Neolithic assemblage from the neighbourhood of Çatalhöyük. In The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East, eds. D. Bolger and L. C. Maguire. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
4. Bar-Yosef, O., and Alon, D. 1988. Nahal Hemar Cave. ‘Atiqot 18. Jerusalem: Israel Department of Antiquities.
5. Bar-Yosef, O., Goring-Morris, A. N., and Gopher, A., eds. 2010. Gilgal: Excavations at Early Neolithic Sites in the Lower Jordan Valley. The Excavations of Tamar Noy. Oakville, CT: ASPR Monograph Series & David Brown/Oxbow.
6. Bar-Yosef, O., Laville, H., Meigen, L., Tillier, A.-M., Vandermeersch, B., Arensberg, B., Belfer-Cohen, A., Goldberg, P., Rak, Y., and Tchernov, E. 1988. La Sépulture neandertali è nne de Kebara (unitéXII). In La Pense, ed., M. Otte. Liège: ERAUL, 17–24.
7. Bar-Yosef, O., and Sillen, A. 1993. Implications of the New Acclerator Date of the Charred Skeletons from Kebara Cave (Mt. Carmel). Pal é orient 19: 205–208.
8. Becker, C. 2002. Nothing to do with indigenous domestication? Cattle from Late PPNB Basta. In Archaeozoology of the Near East, eds., H. Buitenhuis, A. M. Choyke, M. Mashkour and A. H. Al-Shiyab. Groningen: ARC, 112–137.
9. Belfer-Cohen, A. 1988. The Natufian Graveyard in Hayonim Cave. Paléorient 4 (2), 297–308. 1995. Rethinking social stratification in the natufian culture: The evidence from burials. In The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East, eds. S. Campbell and A. Green. Edinburgh: Oxbow Monographs, 9–16.
10. Belfer-Cohen, A., Arensburg, B., Bar-Yosef, O., and Gopher, A. 1990. The Human Remains from the PPNA Site of Netiv Hagdud, Jordan Valley, Israel. Mitekufat Haeven–Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 23: 79–85.
11. Belfer-Cohen, A., and Goring-Morris, A. N. 2009. For the First Time. Comments on Papers in “Conversation on the Origins of Agriculture”. Current Anthropology 50 (5), 669–672
12. The Upper Palaeolithic and earlier Epi-Palaeolithic of Western Asia (ca. 50–14.5 k calBP). In The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 3, eds. A. C. Renfrew and B. G. Bahn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1381–1407.
13. Breaking the mold: Phases and facies in the Natufian of the Mediterranean Zone. In The Natufian Culture in the Levant II, eds. O. Bar-Yosef and F. R. Valla. Ann Arbor, MI: Monographs in Prehistory, 543–561.
14. Bocquentin, F. 2003. Pratiques funeraires, parametres biologiques et identitésculturelles au Natoufien: une analyse archéo-anthropologique. Thèsede Doctorat en Anthropologie Biologique, Universit é Bordeaux
15. Bocquentin, F., Crevecoeur, I., Arensburg, B., Kaufman, D., and Ronen, A. 2011. Les hommes du Kébariengéométrique de Neve David, Mont Carmel (Israël). Bulletins et Mémoires de la Soci é t é d’anthropologie de Paris 23 (1–2): 38–51.
16. Boz, B., and Hager, L. 2013. Intramural burial practices at Çatalhöyük. In Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000–2008 Seasons, ed. I. Hodder. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute.
17. Coqueugniot, E. 2008. Diversified funerary practices: the case of Dja’de (Syria, Euphrates valley, 9th millenium cal. BC, late PPNA and EPPNB). In Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, eds., J. M. Córdoba, M. Molist, M. Pérez, I. Rubio and S. Martínez. Madrid: Centro Superior de Estudios sobre el Oriente Próximo y Egipto.
18. Coqueugniot, E. 2013. Dja’de (Syria) and the 9th millenium cal. BC symbolic representations. In Transitions en Mediterranéeou Comment des Chasseurs Devinrent Agriculteurs (Epipaléolithique, Mésolithique, Néolithique Ancien), eds. J. Guilaine, C. Manen, and T. Perrin. Le Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse, le Centre de Recherche surla Préhistoire et la Protohistoire de la Mediterranée (EHESS/UMR Traces du CNRS). Toulouse.
19. Cornwall, I. W. 1981. The pre-pottery Neolithic burials. In Excavations at Jericho. Vol. 3: The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell, ed. T. A. Holland. London: The British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 395–406.
20. Croucher, K. 2006a. Death, display and performance: A discussion of the mortuary remains at Çayönü Tepesi, Southeast Turkey. In The Archaeology of Cult and Death, eds. M. Georgiadis and C. Gallou, pp. 11–44. Budapest: Archaeolingua.
21. b. Getting ahead: Exploring meanings of skulls in the Neolithic Near East. In Skull collection, modification and decoration, ed. M. Bonogofsky. Oxford: Archaeopress, 29–44.
22. Tactile engagements: the world of the dead in the lives of the living … or ‘sharing the dead’. In The Principle of Sharing–Segregation and Construction of Social Identities at the Transition from Foraging to Farming, ed. M. Benz. Berlin: SENEPSE 14, ex oriente, 277–300.
23. Death and Dying in the Neolithic Near East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
24. Davis, S. J. M., and Valla, F. R. 1978. Evidence for Domestication of the Dog 12,000 Years Ago in the Natufian of Israel. Nature 276: 608–610.
25. Edwards, P. C., Meadows, J., Sayej, G., and Westaway, M. 2004. From the PPNA to the PPNB: New views from the southern Levant after excavations at Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 in Jordan. Paléorient 30 (2), 21–60.
26. Finlayson, B., and Mithen, S., eds. 2007. The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan. Oxford: Oxbow Books & CBRL.
27. Galili, E., Eshed, V., Gopher, A., and Hershkovitz, I., 2005. Burial practices at the submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Atlit-Yam, northern coast of Israel. Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research 339: 1–19.
28. Garrard, A. N. 1991 Natufian settlement in the Azraq Basin, Eastern Jordan. In The Natufian Culture in the Levant, eds. O. Bar-Yosef and F. R. Valla. Ann Arbor, MI: International Monographs in Prehistory, 235–244.
29. Garrard, A. N., and Yazbeck, C. 2003. Qadisha Valley Prehistory Project (Northern Lebanon): Summary of First Two Seasons Investigations. Baal 7: 7–14.
30. Garrod, D. 1936–1937. Notes on Some Decorated Skeletons from the Mesolithic of Palestine. Annual of the British School in Athens 37: 123–127.
31. Garrod, D. A. E., and Bate, D. M. A. 1937. The Stone Age of Mount Carmel. Excavations at the Wadi-Mughara, vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
32. Gebel, H. G., Hermansen, B. D., and Kinzel, M. 2006. Ba’ja 2005: A Two- Storied Building and Collective Burials. Results of the 6th Season of Excavation. Neo-Lithics 1/06: 12–19.
33. Goren, Y., Goring-Morris, A. N., and Segal, I. 2001. Skull Modeling in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B: Regional Variability, the Relationship of Technology and Iconography and Their Archaeological Implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 28 (7), 671–690.
34. Goring-Morris, A. N. 2000. The quick and the dead: The social context of Aceramic Neolithic mortuary practices as seen from Kfar HaHoresh. In Life in Neolithic Farming Communities. Social Organization, Identity, and Differentiation, ed. I. Kuijt. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 103–135.
35. Life, death and the emergence of differential status in the Near Eastern Neolithic: Evidence from Kfar HaHoresh, Lower Galilee, Israel. In Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, ed. J. Clark. Oxford: CBRL & Oxbow Books, 89–105.
36. Goring-Morris, A. N., and Belfer-Cohen, A. 2011. Evolving human/animal interactions in the Near Eastern Neolithic: Feasting as a case study. In Guess Who´S Coming to Dinner: Feasting Rituals in the Prehistoric Societies of Europe and near East, eds. G. Aranda, S. Montónand M. Sanchez. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 64–72.
37. Goring-Morris, A. N., Burns, R., Davidzon, A., Eshed, V., Goren, Y., Hershkovitz, I., Kangas, S., and Kelecevic, J. 1998. The 1997 Season of Excavations at the Mortuary Site of Kfar HaHoresh, Galilee, Israel. Neo- Lithics 3/98: 1–4.
38. Goring-Morris, A. N., and Horwitz, L. K. 2007. Funerals and Feasts in the Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. Antiquity 81: 902–919.
39. Grosman, L., and Munro, N. 2007. The Sacred and the Mundane: Domestic Activities at a Late Natufian Burial Site in the Levant. Before Farming: The Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers 4: 1–14.
40. Grosman, L., Munro, N. D., and Belfer-Cohen, A. 2008. A 12,000-year-old Shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (46), 17665–17669.
41. Guerrero, E., Molist, M., Kuijt, I., and Anfruns, J. 2009. Seated Memory: New Insights into Near Eastern Neolithic Mortuary Variability from Tell Halula, Syria. Current Anthropology 50: 379–391.
42. Guilaine, J., Briois, F., and Vigne, J. D., eds. 2011. Shillourokambos. Uneétablissement néolithiquepré-ceramiqueà Chypre. Les fouilles du secteur. Paris: Editions Errance/Ecole Françaised’ Athenes.
43. Hayden, B. 2011. Feasting and social dynamics in the Epipaleolithic of the Fertile Crescent: an interpretive excercise. In Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Feasting Rituals in the Prehistoric Societies of Europe and the near East, eds. G. Aranda Jimenez, S. Monton-Subias and M. Sanchez Romero. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 30–63.
44. Hermansen, B. D., Thuesen, I., Jensen, C. H., Kinzel, M., Petersen, M. B., Jorkov, M. L., and Lynerrup, N. 2006. Shkarat Msaied: The 2005 Season of Excavations. A Short Preliminary Report. Neo-Lithics 1/06: 3–7.
45. Hershkovitz, I., Bar-Yosef, O., and Arensburg, B. 1994. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic Populations of South Sinai and Their Relations to Other Circum-Mediterranean Groups: An Anthropological Study. Paléorient 20 (2), 59–84.
46. Hershkovitz, I., Spiers, M. S., Frayer, D., Nadel, D., Wish-Baratz, S., and Arensberg, B. 1995. Ohalo II–a 19,000 Years Old Skeleton from a Water-Logged Site at the Sea of Galilee. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 96 (3), 215–234.
47. Horwitz Kolska, L., and Goring-Morri, A. N. 2004. Animals and Ritual during the Levantine PPNB: A Case Study from the Site of Kfar Hahoresh, Israel. Anthropozoologica 39 (1), 165–178.
48. Ibañez, J. J., ed. 2008. Le Site Néolithique de Tell Mureybet (Syrie du Nord). En hommageà Jacques Cauvin. Oxford: BAR International Series 1843 (I–II).
49. Kanjou, Y. 2009. Study of Neolithic Human Graves from Tell Qaramel in North Syria. International Journal of Modern Anthropology 2: 25–37.
50. Kenyon, K. M. 1957. Digging Up Jericho. London: Benn. 1981. The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell: Excavations at Jericho III. London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.
51. Khalaily, H., Milevski, I., Getzov, N., Hershkovitz, I., Barzilai, O., Yaroshevich, A., Shlomi, V., Najjar, A., Zidan, O., Smithline, H., and Liran, R. 2008. Recent Excavations at the Neolithic Site of Yiftahel (Khallet Khalladyiah), Lower Galilee. Neo-Lithics 2/08: 3–11.
52. Kinzel, M., Abu-Laban, A., Hoffman Jensen, C., Thuesen, I., and Jorkov, M-L. 2011. Insights into PPNB Architectural Transformation, Human Burials, and Initial Conservation Works: Summary on the 2010 Excavation Season at Shkarat Msaied. Neo-Lithics 1/11: 44–49.
53. Kirkbride, D. 1966. Five Seasons at the Prepottery Neolithic Village of Beidha in Jordan. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 98: 8–72.
54. Kozlowski, S. K. 2002. Nemrik: An Aceramic Village in Northern Iraq. Warsaw: Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University.
55. Kuijt, I. 1995. New Perspectives on Old Territories: Ritual Practices and the Emergence of Social Complexity in the Levantine Neolithic. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University.
56. Negotiating Equality through Ritual: A Consideration of Late Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Period Mortuary Practices. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 15: 313–336.
57. Jericho. In The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, eds. C. Beck, G. Michaels, C. Scarre and N. A. Silberman. New York: Oxford University Press, 363–364.
58. Place, death, and the transmission of social memory in early agricultural of the Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals, ed. M. S. Chesson. Washington, DC: Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association: 80–99.
59. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Late Natufian Occupations at ‘Iraq ed-Dubb, Jordan. Journal of Field Archaeology. 29: 291–308.
60. The Regeneration of Life: Neolithic Structures of Symbolic Remembering and Forgetting. Current Anthropology. 49 (2): 171–197.
61. Kurth, G., and Rohrer-Ertl, O. 1981. On the anthropology of the Mesolithic to Chalcolithic human remains from the Tell es-Sultan in Jericho, Jordan. In Excavations at Jericho, vol. 3, ed. T. A. Holland. Oxford.: Oxford University Press, 409–499.
62. Le Mort, F. 1994. Les sepultures. In Le Gisement de Hatoula en Judée Occidentale, Israel, eds. M. Lechevallier and A. Ronen. Paris: Association Paléorient, Mémoires et Travaux du Centre de Recherche Français de Jérusalem, 39–57.
63. Le Mort, F., Hershkovitz, I., and Spiers, M. 1994. Les restes humains. In Le Gisement de Hatoula en JudéeOccidentale, Israel, eds. M. Lechevallier and A. Ronen. Paris: Association Paléorient, Mémoires et Travaux du Centre de Recherche Français de Jérusalem, 59–72.
64. Lengyel, G., and Bocquentin, F. 2005. Burials of Raqefet Cave in the Context of the Late Natufian. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 35: 271–284.
65. Maher, L. A., Stock, J. T., Finney, S., Heywood, J. J. N., Miracle, P. T., and Banning, E. B. 2011. A Unique Human-Fox Burial from a Pre-Natufian Cemetery in the Levant (Jordan). PLoS ONE 6(1).
66. Makarewicz, C. A., and Rose, K. 2011. Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement at el-Hemmeh: A survey of the architecture. Neo-Lithics 1/11: 23–29.
67. Malinsky-Buller, A., Aldjem, E., and Yeshurun, R. 2009. Bir el-Maksur. A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in Lower Galilee. Neo-Lithics 2/09: 13–17.
68. Moore, A. M. T., Hillman, G. C., and Legge, A. J. 2000. Village on the Euphrates. From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
69. Munro, N. D., and Grosman, L. 2010. Early Evidence (ca. 12,000 BP) for Feasting at a Burial Cave in Israel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 107(35): 15362–15366.
70. Nadel, D., Danin, A., Power, R. C., Rosen, A. M., Bocquentin, F., Tsatskin, A., Rosenberg, D., Yeshurun, R., Weissbrod, L., Rebollo, N.R., Barzilai, O., and Boaretto, E. 2013. Earliest floral grave lining from 13,700–11,700-yold Natufian burials at Raqefet cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
71. Nadel, D., Lengyel, G., Bocquentin, F., Tsatskin A., Rosenberg, D., Yeshurun, R., Bar-Oz, G., Bar-Yosef Mayer, D., Beeri, R., Conyers, L., Filin, S., Hershkovitz, I., Kurzawska, A., and Weissbrod, L. 2008. The Late Natufian at Raqefet Cave: The 2006 Excavation Season. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 38: 59–131.
72. Nadel, D., Lengyel, G., Cabellos, T., Bocquentin, F., Rosenberg, D., Yeshurun, R., Brown-Goodman, R., Tsatskin, A., Bar-Oz, G., and Filin, S. 2009. The Raqefet cave 2008 excavation season. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 39: 21–61.
73. Nakamura, C., and Meskell, L. 2013. Figurines. In Substantive Technologies at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000–2008 Seasons, ed. I. Hodder. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute.
74. Ortiz, A., Chambon, P., and Molist, M. 2013. “Funerary bundles” in the PPNB at the archaeological site of tell Halula (middle Euphrates valley Syria): Analysis of the taphonomic dynamics of seated bodies. Journal Archaeological Science.
75. Ozbek, M. 1988. Cults descrânes humainsà Çayönu. Anatolica 15: 127–135. 1992. The Human Remains at Çayönu. American Journal of Archaeology 96: 374.
76. Özkaya, V. 2009. Excavations at Körtik Tepe: A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in Southeastern Anatolia. Neo-Lithics 2/09: 3–8.
77. Özkaya, V., and Coşkun, A. 2009. Körtik Tepe, a New Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in South-eastern Anatolia. Antiquity 83(320).
78. Perrot, J., and Ladiray, D. 1988. Les Hommes de Mallaha (Eynan), Israel. Mémoires et Travaux du Centre de Recherche Française de Jérusalem, No. 7. Paris: Association Paléorient.
79. Richter, T., Stock, J. T., Maher, L., and Hebron, C. 2010. An Early Epipalaeolithic Sitting Burial from the Azraq Oasis, Jordan. Antiquity 84: 321–334.
80. Rollefson, G. O., 2000. Ritual and social structure at Neolithic ‘Ain Ghazal. In Life in Neolithic Farming Communities. Social Organization, Identity, and Differentiation, ed. I. Kuijt. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 163–190.
81. Smith, P., 1972. Diet and Attrition in the Natufians. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 37: 233–238.
82. Solecki, R. S., Solecki, R. L., and Agelarakis, A. P., 2004. The Proto-Neolithic Cemetery in Shanidar Cave. College Station: Texas A&M.
83. Stekelis, M., and Yizraeli, T., 1963. Excavations at Nahal Oren–Preliminary Report. Israel Exploration Journal 13: 1–12.
84. Stock, J. T., Pfeiffer, S. K., Chazan, M., and Janetski, J., 2005. F-81 Skeleton from Wadi Mataha, Jordan, and Its Bearing on Human Variability in the Epipaleolithic of the Levant. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128(2): 453–465.
85. Stordeur, D., and Abbès, F., 2002. Du PPNA au PPNB: mise en lumièred’une phase de transitionà Jerfel-Ahmar (Syrie). Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 99(3): 563–595.
86. Stordeur, D., and Khawam, R., 2007. Les crânes surmodelés de Tell Aswad (PPNB, Syrie). Premier regard sur l’ensemble, premières réflexions. Syria 84: 5–32.
87. Une place pour les morts dans les maisons de Tell Aswad (Syrie). (Horizon PPNB ancien et PPNB moyen). In Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, eds., J. M. Córdoba, M. Molist, M. Pérez, I. Rubio and S. Martínez. Madrid: Centro Superior de Estudios sobre el Oriente Próximo y Egipto, 561–590.
88. Tchernov, E., and Valla, F. R., 1997. Two New Dogs, and Other Natufian Dogs, from the Southern Levant. Journal of Archaeological Science 24(1): 65–95.
89. Turville-Petre, F., 1932. Excavations at the Mugharet El-Kebarah. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 62: 270–276.
90. Twiss, K. C., 2008. Transformations in an Early Agricultural Society: Feasting in the Southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27: 418–442.
91. Valla, F. R., 1988. Aspects du sol de l’abri 131 de Mallaha (Eynan). Paléorient 14: 283–296.
92. Valla, F. R., Khalaily, H., Samuelian, N., and Bocquentin, F., 2010. What Happened in the Final Natufian? Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 40: 131–148.
93. Watkins, T., Baird, D., and Betts, A., 1989. Qermez Dere and the Early Aceramic Neolithic in Northern Iraq. Paléorient 15(1): 19–24.
94. Webb, S. G., and Edwards, P. C., 2002. The Natufian Human Skeletal Remains from Wadi Hammeh 27 (Jordan). Paléorient, 28(1), 103–123.