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Ways of Eating/Ways of Being in the Later Epipalaeolithic (NATUFIAN) Levant

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Thinking through the Body

Abstract

In the prehistoric archaeology of the Levant the human body is currently regarded in two ways. First, as an objectified entity in physical/biological anthropological studies (e.g. Belfer-Cohen et al. 1991) and, second, its treatment in death is seen as an indicator of either the organisational principles of society (e.g. Wright 1978, Henry 1985, Byrd and Monahan 1995) or, to a lesser extent, its possible role as a component of a symbolic system (Valla 1990, Boyd 1992, Kuijt 1996). As is generally the case elsewhere, consideration of the social body and embodied agency is lacking. Bearing in mind that it is probably premature to attempt a critical archaeology of the body based upon current explanations and understandings of prehistoric material from the region, what follows should be seen very much as work in progress, as an initial ‘way in’ to a wider exploration of the social body in Levantine prehistory, in this particular case, the Later Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) period.

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Authors
  1. Brian Boyd
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southampton, Southampton, England

    Yannis Hamilakis

  2. University of Wales, Lampeter, Wales, UK

    Mark Pluciennik

  3. University of Leicester, Leicester, England

    Sarah Tarlow

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Boyd, B. (2002). Ways of Eating/Ways of Being in the Later Epipalaeolithic (NATUFIAN) Levant. In: Hamilakis, Y., Pluciennik, M., Tarlow, S. (eds) Thinking through the Body. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0693-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0693-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

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