Death and Dying in the Neolithic Near East

Description

The Neolithic of the Near East is a period of human development which saw fundamental changes in the nature of human society. It is traditionally studied for its development of domestication, agriculture, and growing social complexity. In this book Karina Croucher takes a new approach, focusing on the human body and investigating mortuary practices - the treatment and burial of the dead - to discover what these can reveal about the people of the Neolithic Near East. The remarkable evidence relating to mortuary practices and ritual behaviour from the Near Eastern Neolithic provides some of the most breath-taking archaeological evidence excavated from Neolithic contexts. The most enigmatic mortuary practices of the period produced the striking 'plastered skulls', faces modelled onto the crania of the deceased. Archaeological sites also contain evidence for many intriguing mortuary treatments, including decapitated burials and the fragmentation, circulation, curation, and reburial of human and animal remains and material culture. Drawing on recent excavations and earlier archive and published fieldwork, Croucher provides an overview and introduction to the period, presenting new interpretations of the archaeological evidence and in-depth analyses of case studies. The book explores themes such as ancestors, human-animal relationships, food, consumption and cannibalism, personhood, and gender. Offering a unique insight into changing attitudes towards the human body - both in life and during death - this book reveals the identities and experiences of the people of the Neolithic Near East through their interactions with their dead, with animals, and their new material worlds. Cover Contents Detailed Contents List of Figures List of Abbreviations 1. Death and Dying Introduction Terms and conventions used in this publication Chronology Mortuary practices: labels and definitions Anatomy Death and dying Being dead Death as transformation Treatment of the dead body Grieving, mourning, and treatment of the dead 2. The Neolithic Near East: An Overview Historical and geographical context Geography Past environments and climatic changes Chronology Traditional approaches Chronological phases and main sites The Natufian, c.12 500–10 000 BC The Neolithic Chronology in context 3. Interpretation and Practice Developments in archaeological theory and practice: their impact on Near Eastern archaeology Culture-history New Archaeology and processualism Post-processualism and interpretative archaeology Digging differently? 4. The Materiality of ‘Ancestors’: Plastered Skulls, Statues, and ‘Stone Gods’ Introduction Plastered skulls and the ‘skull cult’: history, process, and interpretation What are plastered skulls and where are they found? The ‘skull cult’ and the importance of the skull Plastered skulls and their contexts: some examples Pottery Neolithic plastered skulls Plastering and un-plastering Who were the plastered skulls during life? Other evidence: plastered statues, masks, and stone ancestors Plastered statues Nahal Hemar and masking Performance Ancestors Stone gods? Göbekli Tepe Discussion: performance, memory, and ancestors Performance and display Links with the dead Differences between and variety of practices Skulls and other objects through time The skulls today 5. Gender in the Neolithic Near East Introduction: gender in archaeology Archaeology and gender studies: a brief history Women in the past Androcentric interpretation, practice, and epistemology Heteronormativity, sexual identities, and Queer theory Lessons from ethnography Gender roles and the division of labour Third genders and binary oppositions Gender in Near Eastern archaeology Gender roles Imagery: masculine and wild Human representations: figurines Family organization and the problem with our labels Conclusion 6. Personhood, Identity, and the Dead Introduction Bodies Personhood Relational identities Personhood in the Neolithic Near East: identity-forming relationships between people, animals, and things The living and the dead: an overview of fragmentation in the mortuary arena in the Neolithic Near East Relationships: people and things Conclusion 7. Conclusion An alternative approach to interpreting the mortuary practices of the Neolithic Near East Small-scale, bottom-up approach and genealogies of practice The living and the dead Beyond death and dying Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z