1. Living Neolithization: a multi-scalar approach to houses, settlements and habitation practices in Western Anatolia and Southeastern Europe (c. 7000-5000 BCE)
- Author
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van den Bos, Elisha Owara and van den Bos, Elisha Owara
- Abstract
This thesis investigates the development of early farming societies in Western Anatolia and Southeastern Europe between 7000 and 5000 BCE. This ‘Balkan-Anatolian zone’ is often approached as an intermediary between Neolithic ‘core areas’ in Southwest Asia, where crops and animals were first domesticated, and the Neolithization of Southeastern and Central Europe. New field research, however, indicates that the Balkan-Anatolian zone has a deep Neolithic history and its own internal complexity. Therefore, this thesis aims to re-direct attention to the diachronic multi-regional development of Neolithic ways of life in this area. I adopt a settlement perspective on Neolithization, and develop a methodology for reconstructing and comparing local and regional habitation histories (Part I). This methodology builds on the multi-scalar discussion of the diachronic development of houses (domestic architecture), settlement organization, and regional settlement patterns, and aims to address the intersection between habitation patterns and the character and practices of Neolithic communities. Following this methodological framework, I analyze habitation in five regional case studies (Part II, Ch. 5-9), followed by an inter-regional comparative investigation, contextualization and discussion (Part III, Ch. 10-11). I propose that the framework of availability – substitution – consolidation (Zvelebil 2009) provides a starting point for recognizing regional differences in the development of Neolithic settled landscapes. As an important addition to this framework, the archaeological record shows that regional processes of substitution and consolidation (6700/6000-5700 BCE) were followed by the collapse, or ‘bust’, of settled landscapes across the Balkan-Anatolian zone (5700-5500 BCE), and the partial renewal of habitation (5500-5000 BCE). This is in line with ideas proposed for the demographic development of early farming societies, e.g. by Shennan et al. (2013) and Bandy (2008). Foll
- Published
- 2021