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Beyond the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere

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Journal of World Prehistory Aims and scope

Abstract

This article aims to provide a critical evaluation of the influence of the culture-historical paradigm in the Neolithic archaeology of Western Asia through the re-assessment of currently established theoretical concepts, notably the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) interaction sphere, demic diffusion and acculturation. It is argued that these concepts are too abstractly defined to enable meaningful insights into the dynamics of Early Neolithic societies. A different theoretical framework is needed in order to achieve an historical understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of regional socio-cultural interactions and population displacement. This framework begins with the detailed analysis of local patterns of social organization and exchange. Exchange itself is seen as a socially situated process that was integrally related to the negotiation and reproduction of collective identities during the Neolithic.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank here Douglas Baird, Angela E. Close, Bill Finlayson, Ian Kuijt, Louise Martin, Mark Roughley and David Wengrow for stimulating my thinking through conversation, constructive argument and the critical assessment of several issues discussed in this article. Angela Close, James Phillips and several anonymous reviewers offered substantive editorial comments and constructive criticism for which I feel enormously indebted. Mark Roughley assisted with the editing of the illustrations. Ian Hodder and the Çatalhöyük Research Project (special thanks are due to the site director, Shahina Farid) facilitated access to the unpublished objects presented in Figs. 11, 12. My research has benefited substantially from the intellectual environment provided by the Çatalhöyük Research Project for the better part of the last 10 years, and several conversations and exchanges with project members and other colleagues in Turkey and elsewhere (too many to mention here by name!) I reserve for myself the responsibility for any remaining mistakes, omissions and inaccuracies.

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  1. School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Hartley Building, Brownlow Street, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    Eleni Asouti

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Asouti, E. Beyond the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere. J World Prehist 20, 87–126 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-007-9008-1

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