The Neolithic Revolution

Je parle ici de domestication et d'évolution dialectique, d'esprit sur le mode hégélien, de liberté et d'absolu, sur un mode plus immédiat ou personnel. Ces notions sont difficiles à mettre en perspective, on ne peut les approcher que par un biais et de façon allusive, sinon "poétique". Mais j'ai écrit ce texte et partant il demande à être partagé. Ce qu'on produit ne nous appartient pas vraiment, cela a une existence autonome. Bien à vous...

¶ This article follows a line of reasoning that investigates how Christianity may have developed out of Buddhism’s unobtrusive missionary efforts, in the 3rd century BCE, to “propagate” among the peoples living in countries around the Mediterranean, Buddhism’s knowledge of the ‘Good (“ethical”) Way’ of living their personal and communal lives.
¶ Over the past two centuries, scholars from around the world have been debating whether Buddhism influenced Christianity – and/or whether, in return, Christianity influenced Buddhism.
¶ These debates, I argue here, have all been conducted under the blinding illusion that Indian Buddhist authors wrote all of their scriptures in India (in the EAST). Whereas an “obviously” DIFFERENT SET of Christian and Gnostic authors wrote their scriptures in various locations in the WEST.

¶ (1) These perceptions of the scholarly world are mistaken. From the beginning of the 19th century, every article or book ever written in these debates has assumed that the authors of the New Testament Gospels have or have not been influenced by distinctly different authors of Buddhist scriptures (or vice versa). These views are all illusions, carefully created by the so-called “Christian” authors.
¶ (2) How is that possible? The truly simple answer is this: “It is possible because both sets of writers – those who wrote the New Testament gospels, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those who wrote a very significant number of Buddhist scriptures – were actually SUB-SETS of a SINGLE SET (which included both the crypto-Buddhist-Therapeutæan authors of the NT gospels and the crypto-Buddhist-Therapeutæan writers of all of the very many Buddhist scriptures possessing tell-tale elements from Western literatures [allusions to works in hieroglyphics, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek (classical and koine), Latin, etc., etc,]). I say again: all these Therapeut writers were using the innumerable reference sources of the only library on Earth containing the world’s literature in Greek (original or translated): the Library of Alexandria!”

2 In-depth Articles
About the Neolithic Era
THE NEOLITHIC MINDSET
A New Concept Of Time
A New Relation To The Natural Environment
------- AND -------
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE NEOLITHIC ERA
Incorrect Assumptions And Modern Biases Have Prevented A Full Understanding Of The Neolithic Era
by Rick Doble

The article offers a new perspective on environmental narratives, viewing them through the prism of ‘social myths’. Social myths, usually based on factual information (like historical or scientific data) are constructions that can inspire strong moods and motivations in people and have a nature akin to sacredness for those that participate in their worldview. In this text the author presents two major lineages that contribute to the historical development of contemporary environmental ideas – on the one hand the holistic, mystical, animistic undercurrent of European thought associated with Romanticism and on the other the Protestantism, especially Calvinism, with its focus on sin and asceticism. Based on both primary and secondary literature the main mythemes of environmentalism are postulated and overviewed: the image of the “Fall,” the disruption of natural harmony by first the agricultural revolution and later technology, visions of the looming apocalypse, the opposition of (Cartesian) dualism and (eco-friendly) holism, and the opposition of sacred (wild) space and the profane (urban), corresponding to the opposition of pure to polluted and healthy to unhealthy. These mythemes are then connected to specific ritual-like phenomena, e.g. dietary practices or consumer behaviour, as well as to impactful life-choices (e.g. the choice of not having children).

Various animals, ranging from fearsome carnivores, meat-providing ungulates, raptors, aquatic birds, fish, and reptiles to boneless insects, were depicted in a diverse array of Neolithic artifacts and features. At many Neolithic sites, items were crafted in the shape of animal heads or specific animal species, while burials often revealed the presence of animal bones or even complete skeletons interred alongside humans. Despite variations in geography, species preferences, and artifact types, animal imagery consistently emerges in cultural items across the Neolithic landscape. This opens new avenues for understanding intra-site as well as regional aspects of animal-based rituals and socio-symbolic complexities in animal-human interactions in the Neolithic world. This session aims to foster global discussions on the contemporary understanding of animals in Neolithic rituals and symbolism, asserting that cultural artifacts with animal imagery or scattered animal remains within ritual contexts are intrinsically linked to supernatural beliefs prevalent throughout the Neolithic world. Beyond the simplistic hunter-hunted dichotomy, the session will promote new ways of understanding the complexity and deep extent of animal-human interactions throughout the Neolithic, spanning from the 11th millennium BCE in West Asia and continuing up to the 1st millennium BCE in South Asia.

We encourage contributions highlighting the following (and related) issues:

1. Zooarchaeological approaches to Neolithic funerary animals (animal remains in burial, ritual context etc.).

2. Neolithic artifact, assemblage, and artistic finds representing animal-human interaction.

2. Theoretical approaches to animal symbolism and animal-human relations in the Neolithic funerary contexts.

3. Transition of animal symbolism from Pre-Neolithic to Neolithic to adjacent periods.

4. Discussions on "animals as persons vs. anthropocentric world views" in Neolithic and subsequent periods.

Standardized spiral pendants and Stollhof-Csáford type phalerae are the most distinctive metal jewellery of Central European Early Metallic Age. In particular, the massive spectacle pendants of the Malé Leváre type occupy an important position in the systematics trying to reconstruct the origin and transmission of the universal design of this type of jewellery in the period of the 5th and 4th millennia BC in Western Eurasia. This study maps their cultural-historical, chronological, metrical or paleometallurgical data, allowing a diachronic as well as a synchronic view in the light of contemporary issues. The study presents an updated typological assessment and knowledge gathered over a century of archaeological research, newly supplemented with specimens from Beluša, Bzenec, Ivanovce, Krnov, Rajec, Rousínov, Trenčianske Teplice and Žitná-Radiša. The new phalerae hoard of Dolná Poruba-Homôľka allows us to present a certain originality in the Carpathian geographical space, which, together with the lens of modern natural science research, shifts the interpretation from static metallurgical zones to dynamic technological networks of Chalcolithic communities in Central Europe.

This paper looks at the entangled relationship of beliefs, food and the environment, and how beliefs and climate events have shaped the dawn of civilisation, with enduring damaging legacies that continue today, but have the potential to bring about another paradigm shift through a new our understanding of ourselves: that we are more environment than 'human', that the environment we perceive to be in is actually in us, shaping every aspect of our lives, and therefore, in a crucial way, we are the environment.

The Neolithic site Bondarikha ІІ was explored 70 years ago by D. Ya. Telegin. The materials of the site were not processed utilizing modern methods. The authors of the paper re-examined and analyzed the site’s materials using current methodologies. The Bondarikha II site is set along a natural boundary on what is now the south-eastern outskirts of the modern city of Izium, Kharkiv region. The location of the site is a section of an over-flooded terrace that stretches along the left bank of the River Siversky Donets, and a section of an older river bed named the Willow Pit. In the north, sections of the terrace were crossed by an unnamed stream, and its southern boundary defined by floodplains. The lowlands nearest the terrace are primarily comprised of wetlands. It is quite clear that the Willow Pit was once an active river and seasonally may have transformed into a lake during times of flooding. The site is located approximately 7 m above the current floodplain. The general site po...

Over more than a century, extensive archaeological excavations have taken place in Byblos. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the Neolithic settlement of Byblos and narrate the story of human communities in Byblos during the emergence of settled life. It encompasses the dawn and development of this settlement, the evolution of architecture, the expansion of settlements and continuity from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period. Furthermore, it delves into subjects like the dynamics of life and death in prehistoric Byblos, and presents the origins and legacy of this city through an interdisciplinary lens that combines prehistoric archaeology and anthropology. This study has integrated old archaeological drawings while introducing novel illustrations and reconstructions to enhance our understanding on Byblos during the Neolithic period.

Within the confines of human culture, phenomena like climate change or biodiversity loss are integrated in powerful narratives that belong to the category of social myths. Social myths (very often based on historical or scientific facts) possess an authority akin to sacredness and can inspire strong moods and motivations in people. In this chapter, the scholarly debate on climate change activism as a form of religion with its own mythology is reviewed. The review is then followed by a closer look at the historical origin and development of environmental ideas and mythemes in the context of the climate change debate. Two main lineages are offered by scholarship: on the one hand Romanticism, Transcendentalism and by extension the holistic, mystical, animistic and “pagan” undercurrent of European thought, on the other Protestantism, especially Calvinism, with its focus on sin and asceticism. The main mythemes are then presented: the image of the “Fall”, the disruption of natural harmony by first the agricultural revolution and later technology; the visions of the looming apocalypse; the opposition of (Cartesian) dualism and (eco-friendly) holism; the opposition of sacred (wild) space and the profane (urban), corresponding to the opposition of pure to polluted and healthy to unhealthy. The mythemes are then connected to specific secular ritual practices – diets, consumer behaviours etc. – and situated in the wider context of contemporary culture.

This monograph offers a comprehensive and detailed study of Indian Neolithization. It represents different archaeological traditions and perspective of Indian neolithic cultures including current debates. Is also explores the significance of environmental factors and the evidence presented in this book reflects the strength and diversity across India. The book has been written to facilitate students of archaeology and history and also to laymen who are interested to know the origin and early history of agriculture and domestication in India.

Stone is often regarded as the ideal medium for the long-term preservation of knowledge, as it is resistant to change. Early to middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey has repeatedly been treated as a prime example for such external memorial storage in durable stone. The present paper challenges this view. A close examination of pillars and their reliefs in Building F reveals the fluid character of imagery with repeated and frequent phases of erasure and re-making. It is argued that it is not the durability of stone that made it suitable for the preservation of ‘cultural memory’, but the possibility to re-shape the image carriers continuously over a long period of time, which resulted in processes of transmission, learning and memorization.

The North Shawbak Archaeological Project (NSAP), aims to shed new light on the general occupational history of the northern part of the Shawbak area and anticipates a total of seven years from 2010 until 2017 for the whole research period. The first phase (2010-2012) was devoted to a general survey for building up an archaeological database of the research area. The second phase (2013-2017), on the other hand, is to proceed to a full-fledged investigation at a few promising sites located in the course of the survey. In addition, The survey area is under arid environmental conditions and local vegetation is poor especially in lowlands. However, it is relatively rich in water resources due to the unique topography. As results of survey a total of twenty sites were registered in Area1, they fell into several site types described here follows a supposed chronological order of each group.

The Neolithisation process marks one of the most dramatic changes in human past. The long history of research on the origins of the Neolithic way of life, its characteristics, and ways of spreading and adopting includes diverse theoretical and methodological frameworks. Differences in the focus of research may also be noted – while some studies emphasized the economy and subsistence, others paid more attention to the symbolic realms and cultural change. In recent decades, interdisciplinary approaches have brought new directions for research activities as well as new data, such as new, refined absolute dates, ancient DNA, and stable isotope analyses of human and animal remains.
The Balkan area is particularly important for understanding the spread and adaptation of the so-called “Neolithic package,” with the first studies of the Balkan Early Neolithic conducted as early as the first decades of the 20th century. Recent studies demonstrated that there was a change in population during the Early Neolithic, limiting previous debates on the local vs. imported “Neolithic package,” but also raising questions about the mechanisms of spreading and adopting as well as adapting the Neolithic way of life. This paper will present a critical overview of some of the key studies of the Neolithisation process in prehistoric archaeology in Serbia, as well as current trends and possible future directions for research. One of the insufficiently explored topics is the characteristics and changes in the so-called “Neolithic package” and its adaptations that took place within the Balkan area – such as changes in technological choices, raw material selection and management, or changes in symbolic value and the meaning of some of the elements of material culture.

For several decades now, intensive research has been carried out on the concept of a city that would be as environmentally friendly as possible, while simultaneously providing a high quality of life for its residents. As a result of this research, the concept of a sustainable city that addresses these challenges has been developed. The significance of this issue is evidenced by the fact that Sustainable Development Goal 11 is explicitly concerned with this topic. This paper aims to analyze the concept of a sustainable city from the perspective of the so-called ‘layered’ concept of man authored by Konrad Lorenz. It is based on the observation that the pace of biological evolution and that of the cultural evolution man undergoes differ significantly. While humans have adapted very quickly to urban living in their cultural layer, adaptation to city life in their biological layer has been very slow. The natural way of life pursued by the Homo sapiens was a hunter–gatherer lifestyle, which biological evolution had adapted the species to over hundreds of thousands of years. The changes associated with the Neolithic Revolution and the formation of the first cities took place about 11,000 years ago. Thus, not enough time has elapsed for humans to adapt biologically to their radically changed living conditions. The purpose of this paper is to look from a new perspective at the challenges faced by city dwellers, and in doing so, to identify the sources of these challenges and to arrange them in a hierarchy. An additional goal is to expand the argument for promoting certain elements of a sustainable city. Indeed, much seems to suggest that Lorenz’s concept offers a novel approach to looking at such urban issues as the challenges of overpopulation, man’s restricted access to nature, and the ever-increasing pace of life.

Übersetzung aus dem Deutschen ins Kroatische: Dokumentarfilm "Na dann Prost! Die Deutschen und der Alkohol" (NDR Fernsehen) Übersetzung aus dem Kroatischen ins Deutsche: zwei Kapitel aus der Publikation "Darovi zemlje: neolitik između Save, Drave i Dunava" (Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu/Muzej Slavonije Osijek/Sveučilište u Zagrebu Filozofski fakultet)Übersetzung aus dem Deutschen ins Kroatische: Dokumentarfilm "Na dann Prost! Die Deutschen und der Alkohol" (NDR Fernsehen) Übersetzung aus dem Kroatischen ins Deutsche: zwei Kapitel aus der Publikation "Darovi zemlje: neolitik između Save, Drave i Dunava" (Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu/Muzej Slavonije Osijek/Sveučilište u Zagrebu Filozofski fakultet

The paper is an analysis of the garden at the National Library in Paris. The garden (Jardin-foret) is desribed as uncanny for it belongs to a long tradition of gardening but at the same time it turns out to be its opposite. The uncanny effect seems to stem from the tension between artificiality and naturalness which is at least partly responsable for the lack of enthusiasm towards the garden as it is proved by a quotation from W.G. Sebald's novel 'Austerlitz'.

Charred remains of wild rye from five sites in the Middle Euphrates region in Syria dated to the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene are examined. This period spans the transition from gathering to the beginnings of cultivation. Today wild rye cannot grow in the region because temperatures and aridity are too pronounced. Wild rye grains and wild two-grained einkorn are morphologically similar, which has led to difficulties in identification; in some cases rye may have been identified as two-grained einkorn or as Triticum/Secale. In this paper, with reference to modern specimens and re-examination of charred material from Dja’de el-Mughara, Jerf el-Ahmar and Mureybet, we examine the criteria for identification and revise the results for charred caryopses and wild spikelet bases. We then present these new results which show that at the early Neolithic sites of Jerf el-Ahmar, Mureybet, Dja’de el-Mughara and Tell ‘Abr 3 wild rye frequencies are much higher than eink...

The so-called Neolithic Revolution implied a radical change in human-animal relationships. Population growth, people concentrated in permanent settlements, animal husbandry in human environments and lack of proper sanitation systems were the new scenarios for novel disease outbreaks, zoonoses among them. Their study from different historical times in several parts of the world allows us to achieve a deeper understanding of their development. It helps us to design strategies to deal with them.

This article examines how well two parallel behavioral approaches , one in economics and the other in anthropology, explain the economic evolution of Neolithic societies, particularly their transit from foraging to agriculture. Both assume rational optimizing behavior. It is argued that satisficing theories provide a superior explanation of transition (and non-transition) by some hunter-gatherers. Furthermore, many of the concepts associated with neo-classical economics are shown to be inadequate for analyzing the choice problems involved. Moreover, it is argued that all be-havioral theories considering the relationship between human behavior and economic evolution need to pay attention to the way that decision-making is embedded in social structures. It is unlikely that a single theory will be able to explain the economic evolution of all societies when social structures and other relevant variables differ between communities.

Малышев А.А., Новичихин А.М. Могильник ОПХ «Анапа» – некрополь населения архаической Синдики // Древние и средневековые культуры Кавказа: открытия, гипотезы, интерпретации. XXXII Крупновские чтения. Материалы международной научной конференции по археологии Северного Кавказа, посвященной 125-летию раскопок Майкопского кургана. Майкоп, 18–23 апреля 2022 г. 2022. Майкоп: ООО «Качество». С. 162-164.

For several decades now, intensive research has been carried out on the concept of a city that would be as environmentally friendly as possible, while simultaneously providing a high quality of life for its residents. As a result of this research, the concept of a sustainable city that addresses these challenges has been developed. The significance of this issue is evidenced by the fact that Sustainable Development Goal 11 is explicitly concerned with this topic. This paper aims to analyze the concept of a sustainable city from the perspective of the so-called ‘layered’ concept of man authored by Konrad Lorenz. It is based on the observation that the pace of biological evolution and that of the cultural evolution man undergoes differ significantly. While humans have adapted very quickly to urban living in their cultural layer, adaptation to city life in their biological layer has been very slow. The natural way of life pursued by the Homo sapiens was a hunter–gatherer lifestyle, which biological evolution had adapted the species to over hundreds of thousands of years. The changes associated with the Neolithic Revolution and the formation of the first cities took place about 11,000 years ago. Thus, not enough time has elapsed for humans to adapt biologically to their radically changed living conditions. The purpose of this paper is to look from a new perspective at the challenges faced by city dwellers, and in doing so, to identify the sources of these challenges and to arrange them in a hierarchy. An additional goal is to expand the argument for promoting certain elements of a sustainable city. Indeed, much seems to suggest that Lorenz’s concept offers a novel approach to looking at such urban issues as the challenges of overpopulation, man’s restricted access to nature, and the ever-increasing pace of life.

The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C 3 vs. C 4 vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C 3 plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main control on vegetation distribution in central North Africa, and we note expansions of C 3 vegetation during the African Humid Period (early Holocene) and within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (≈50–45 ka) and MIS 5 (≈120–110 ka). The wet periods within MIS 3 and 5 coincide with major human migration events out of sub-Saharan Africa. Our results thus suggest that changes in AMOC influenced North African climate and, at times, contributed to amenable conditions in the central Sahara/Sahel, allowing hum...

Dr. Ganna Zaitseva participated a lot in researches conducted within the North-Western archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum and elaborating the chronological timeframes for Neolithic in this region. Multidisci- plinary investigations of the last five years changed a lot historical schemes and environmental reconstructions made for Serteya II site, located in Smolensk region. The Serteya II site is a multilayer complex used by hunter–fisher–gath- erer communities in the 9th-8th mill. BC, and from the end of the 7th till the end of the 3rd mill. BC. Archaeological structures and horizons were developed in the palaeolake shore zone within changing water regimes and changes in the environmental conditions. Based on the most convergent dendrochronological sequences, two floating chronolo- gies were compiled, for pine wood 53 years old and larch wood 54 years old. Finally five OSL dates have been obtained, but the acquired age of geological ones significantly exceeded e...

In order to postulate the existence of thea-centric societies or whether or not it can be attested to the presence of matrifocal, matrilineal societies in the past, one must assess various pieces of evidence across time and space. This essay tends to reflect on such archaeological evidence that affirms or reaffirms the theory of thea-centrisicm or the cult of the mother goddess.

This article examines how well two parallel behavioral approaches , one in economics and the other in anthropology, explain the economic evolution of Neolithic societies, particularly their transit from foraging to agriculture. Both assume rational optimizing behavior. It is argued that satisficing theories provide a superior explanation of transition (and non-transition) by some hunter-gatherers. Furthermore, many of the concepts associated with neo-classical economics are shown to be inadequate for analyzing the choice problems involved. Moreover, it is argued that all be-havioral theories considering the relationship between human behavior and economic evolution need to pay attention to the way that decision-making is embedded in social structures. It is unlikely that a single theory will be able to explain the economic evolution of all societies when social structures and other relevant variables differ between communities.

1. Abstract …………………………………………………………..........................……..… 1
2. Introduction ……………………………………………………………........................... 2
3. Diversities in Aegean and Anatolian archaeology ………………………. 2
4. The Aegean Mesolithic: Time of foragers, fisher(wo)man and seafarers ................................................................................................ 4
5. Western Anatolia in Pre-Neolithic times ………………....………….….…… 6
6. Similarities and differences in the early Holocene ………………….…. 6
7. The abrupt arrival of the Neolithic …………………………………….........…. 7
8. Subsistence strategies mark the new Neolithic economy ……….. 8
9. New technologies and exotic items …………………………………….......… 8
10. The long and short revolutions …………………………………………............ 8

The gods of monotheistic religions, which began amongst pastoralists and defeated exiles, are closer to Big Gods than those associated with ancient city-based polities. The development of Big Gods is contingent upon a need to reduce uncertainty and negative feelings in combination with a relatively high level of prosociality, rather than a need to induce or assess prosociality.