Review of The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture by Jacques Cauvin, translated by Trevor Watkins (New Studies in Archaeology).

When, almost a century ago, Raphael Pumpelly put forward the ‘oasis theory’ for the origins of farming in the Near East, his was one of the first in a long series of explanations which looked to environment and ecology as the cause of the shift from hunting and gathering to cultivation and animal husbandry. Pumpelly envisaged climatic desiccation at the end of the last Ice Age as the primary factor, forcing humans, plants and animals into ever closer proximity as the arid zones expanded around them. Subsequent fieldworkers took the closer investigation of environmental changes as a key aim of their research, both in the Near East and elsewhere, and this has remained a fundamental theme in theories for the emergence of agriculture. More recent advances in our understanding of environmental change have placed particular emphasis on the cold Younger Dryas episode, at the end of the last Ice Age. The impact of this sudden reversal of climate warming on the complex Natufian hunter-gatherers of the Levant may, it is argued, have forced or encouraged these communities to explore novel subsistence modes. Not everybody accepts such a chain of reasoning, however, and in The Birth of Gods and the Origins of Agriculture, French archaeologist Jacques Cauvin rejects this emphasis on ecology and environment as the cause of change. Instead, he argues that primacy should be accorded to a restructuring of human mentality from the thirteenth to the tenth millennium BC, expressed in terms of new religious ideas and symbols. Cauvin's book, originally published in French in 1994 under the title Naissance des divinités, naissance de l'agriculture, adopts an ideological approach to explaining the Neolithic which is at odds with many traditional understandings, but which resonates closely with the idea that the Neolithic is much more than an economic transition, and coincided with a transformation in the world view of the prehistoric societies concerned. The present English translation appeared in 2000, and is based on the second French edition (1997) with the addition of a postscript summarizing relevant discoveries made since that date. Owing to illness, Jacques Cauvin has been unable to contribute to this Review Feature as had been hoped, but we are fortunate that his translator, Trevor Watkins, has agreed to draft a response to the comments made by our invited reviewers. These include Ian Hodder, whose own work on the Neolithic transition has been influenced by Cauvin's research, and Ofer Bar-Yosef and Gary Rollefson, both specialists in the prehistory of the Levant. At Dr Watkins' suggestion, the introductory piece which opens the Review Feature is a translated extract from Jacques Cauvin's contribution to a similar review treatment in Les Nouvelles de l'Archéologie (No. 79, 2000, 49–53). As our reviewers make clear, the significance of the book, and the debate which it has initiated, will make it akey text for many years to come.Anthropolog

Virtually Rebuilding Çatalhöyük History Houses

A 3D reconstruction of part of the Çatalhöyük ‘Shrine’ 10 sequence has been developed with the aim to analyze, visualize, and interpret a number of buildings rebuilt multiple times in the same place. More than twenty years of excavations on the East Mound at Çatalhöyük have produced comprehensive interpretations of the repetition of architectural elements and buildings over time, providing thorough understanding of social organization, property, power, and religion in early settled life. Current visualization technologies allow us to simulate the tridimensional context, shared material culture, and experiential aspects of the unique urban environment at Çatalhöyük. However, these modern applications require archaeologists to address methodological questions such as: “what is the significance of virtually rebuilding Çatalhöyük history houses?” and “Can a 3D visualization of a sequence of buildings tell us more about the religious rituals, social organization, and history making practices at Çatalhöyük?” This chapter discusses the 3D reconstruction and interactive exploration of three Çatalhöyük history houses (‘Shrine’ VIA.10, VIAB.10, and VII.10) with the objective to define a new approach to digital archaeology and heritage interpretation that integrates a plurality of data in a visual-analytical environment, where advanced interactive techniques simulate the cosmology, building practices, material culture, and history-making aspects of Çatalhöyük

Trazando el mapa del pasado postmoderno

This paper begins by describing steps that are being taken to develop a reflexive excavation method at Çatalhöyük. From these 12 steps, four themes are described. These are relationality (contextuality) of meaning, reflexivity (critique), interactivity and multivocality. The one idea lying behind all four themes is the need to introduce non-dichotomous thinking in archaeology. The need for such thinking is argued to be especially high in the modern (or postmodern) global systems within which archaeologists increasingly work. The need for fluidity and the breaking down of boundaries is clear in a postcolonial world increasingly linked by information systems.Este artículo empieza describiendo los pasos que deben darse para desarrollar un método de excavación reflexivo en Çatalhöyük. Entre estos 12 pasos, destacamos cuatro temas: relacionalidad (contextualidad) del significado, reflexión (crítica), interactividad y multivocalidad. La idea que subyace en todos ellos es la necesidad de introducir un pensamiento no dicotómico en arqueología. Esta necesidad se basa principalmente en el sistema global moderno (o posmoderno) en el que, cada vez más, trabajan los arqueólogos. Está clara la necesidad de fluidez y ruptura de fronteras en un mundo postcolonial inmerso en los sistemas de información

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This paper addresses the archaeological theory about entanglements between things and humans, understanding this relationship as flows of matter, energy, and information. The cultural world cannot be understood as self-evident data; things take part in a long process of interdependence, construction, and transmission of knowledge. The entanglement is composed of conceptual abstractions and bodily resonance, a reverberation between mind, body, and the world of things. Biosociomaterial entanglements relate to the dialectic of dependence and dependency between humans and things. Addressing the entanglement between humans and things allows for more dialogue between the humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, and material sciences in archaeological and anthropological inquiries.Este artigo aborda a teoria arqueológica sobre os emaranhados entre coisas e humanos, entendendo essa relação como fluxos de matéria, energia e informação. O mundo cultural não pode ser entendido como dados auto-evidentes; as coisas participam de um longo processo de interdependência, construção e transmissão de conhecimento. O emaranhado é composto de abstrações conceituais e ressonância corporal, uma reverberação entre mente, corpo e mundo das coisas. Os emaranhados biossociomateriais dizem respeito à dialética da dependência e sujeição entre humanos e coisas. Abordar o emaranhado entre humanos e coisas permite um diálogo entre as humanidades, ciências sociais, ciências biológicas e ciências materiais nas investigações arqueológicas e antropológicas

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Around 10,000 y ago in southwest Asia, the cessation of a mobile lifestyle and the emergence of the first village communities during the Neolithic marked a fundamental change in human history. The first communities were small (tens to hundreds of individuals) but remained semisedentary. So-called megasites appeared soon after, occupied by thousands of more sedentary inhabitants. Accompanying this shift, the material culture and ancient ecological data indicate profound changes in economic and social behavior. A shift from residential to logistical mobility and increasing population size are clear and can be explained by either changes in fertility and/or aggregation of local groups. However, as sedentism increased, small early communities likely risked inbreeding without maintaining or establishing exogamous relationships typical of hunter-gatherers. Megasites, where large populations would have made endogamy sustainable, could have avoided this risk. To examine the role of kinship practices in the rise of megasites, we measured strontium and oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel from 99 individuals buried at Pınarbaşı, Boncuklu, and Çatalhöyük (Turkey) over 7,000 y. These sites are geographically proximate and, critically, span both early sedentary behaviors (Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu) and the rise of a local megasite (Çatalhöyük). Our data are consistent with the presence of only local individuals at Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu, whereas at Çatalhöyük, several nonlocals are present. The Çatalhöyük data stand in contrast to other megasites where bioarchaeological evidence has pointed to strict endogamy. These different kinship behaviors suggest that megasites may have arisen by employing unique, community-specific kinship practices

Mobility and kinship in the world’s first village societies

Around 10,000 y ago in southwest Asia, the cessation of a mobile lifestyle and the emergence of the first village communities during the Neolithic marked a fundamental change in human history. The first communities were small (tens to hundreds of individuals) but remained semisedentary. So-called megasites appeared soon after, occupied by thousands of more sedentary inhabitants. Accompanying this shift, the material culture and ancient ecological data indicate profound changes in economic and social behavior. A shift from residential to logistical mobility and increasing population size are clear and can be explained by either changes in fertility and/or aggregation of local groups. However, as sedentism increased, small early communities likely risked inbreeding without maintaining or establishing exogamous relationships typical of hunter-gatherers. Megasites, where large populations would have made endogamy sustainable, could have avoided this risk. To examine the role of kinship practices in the rise of megasites, we measured strontium and oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel from 99 individuals buried at Pınarbaşı, Boncuklu, and Çatalhöyük (Turkey) over 7,000 y. These sites are geographically proximate and, critically, span both early sedentary behaviors (Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu) and the rise of a local megasite (Çatalhöyük). Our data are consistent with the presence of only local individuals at Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu, whereas at Çatalhöyük, several nonlocals are present. The Çatalhöyük data stand in contrast to other megasites where bioarchaeological evidence has pointed to strict endogamy. These different kinship behaviors suggest that megasites may have arisen by employing unique, community-specific kinship practices

Introduction: Toward an Engaged Feminist Heritage Praxis

We advocate a feminist approach to archaeological heritage work in order to transform heritage practice and the production of archaeological knowledge. We use an engaged feminist standpoint and situate intersubjectivity and intersectionality as critical components of this practice. An engaged feminist approach to heritage work allows the discipline to consider women’s, men’s, and gender non-conforming persons’ positions in the field, to reveal their contributions, to develop critical pedagogical approaches, and to rethink forms of representation. Throughout, we emphasize the intellectual labor of women of color, queer and gender non-conforming persons, and early white feminists in archaeology