Les bâtiments communautaires de Jerf el Ahmar et Mureybet Horizon PPNA (Syrie).

Stordeur, Danielle; Brenet, Michel; Aprahamian, Gérard Der; Roux, Jean‐Claude

doi:10.3406/paleo.2000.4696

Cited by 108 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Stordeur et al (25) reported a sequence of communal buildings and compared them with similar discoveries from the excavations at Mureybet. Stordeur and her colleagues identified a sequence of large buildings (with the earliest, building EA 30, being excavated to a depth of over 2 m with interior measurements of 7.4 × 6.8 m) that they believed could only be the product of communal efforts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Finlayson

Mithen

Najjar

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent excavations at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) WF16 in southern Jordan have revealed remarkable evidence of architectural developments in the early Neolithic. This sheds light on both special purpose structures and "domestic" settlement, allowing fresh insights into the development of increasingly sedentary communities and the social systems they supported. The development of sedentary communities is a central part of the Neolithic process in Southwest Asia. Architecture and ideas of homes and households have been important to the debate, although there has also been considerable discussion on the role of communal buildings and the organization of early sedentarizing communities since the discovery of the tower at Jericho. Recently, the focus has been on either northern Levantine PPNA sites, such as Jerf el Ahmar, or the emergence of ritual buildings in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant. Much of the debate revolves around a division between what is interpreted as domestic space, contrasted with "special purpose" buildings. Our recent evidence allows a fresh examination of the nature of early Neolithic communities.forager-farmer transition | Near East T he Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) is the earliest Neolithic in Southwest Asia (circa 11,600 to 10,200 y ago) situated between hunting and gathering and sedentary farming societies. It is generally considered as the key period in the shift to management and production of resources, wherein increasingly sedentary communities start to produce food to extend the period of occupation at a site, with one of the main economic developments in the PPNA being the cultivation of wild cereals. Social changes are as significant as economic ones, enabling communities to both increase in size and live together for longer periods, and, arguably, it is these social changes that drive the economic developments. Architecture is an important facet of the early Neolithic, providing evidence for an increasingly sedentary lifestyle; changing social structures; and, in the growth of communities, a motive for the development of food production.Three basic assumptions tend to be made regarding PPNA settlements: (i) that the presence of stone or mud architecture indicates sedentism; (ii) that most buildings are domestic and can be described as houses forming small permanent villages; and (iii) that any buildings not fitting this pattern are "special," with some communal function, frequently assumed to be ritual as opposed to a domestic norm, including the tower at Jericho (1), monumental stone-pillared structures at Göbekli Tepe (2), and communal buildings at Jerf el Ahmar and Mureybet (3). On the basis of our recent discoveries at WF16, we argue that these normative assumptions must be questioned. Can we really identify basic domestic structures in these early settlements, and do they exist in opposition to the nondomestic? This has profound implications for how we understand PPNA social organization.Strong arguments have been made that the PPNA is part of a long, sl...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Finlayson

Mithen

Najjar

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent extensive salvage excavations at Jerf el Ahmar in the northern Levant have revealed remarkable new insights into this topic. Domestic architecture evolved from round to rectangular during the PPNA occupation at Jerf el Ahmar, and public buildings are well documented during the latter PPNA and transitional PPNA-PPNB contexts Stordeur et al, 2000). Two late PPNA phases of occupation at Jerf el Ahmar (during which aboveground rectangular domestic buildings were present) each include a large, round, subterranean building divided into radiating cells with raised benches and wooden pillars.…”

Section: Early Neolithicmentioning

confidence: 98%

Reassessing the Emergence of Village Life in the Near East

Byrd

2005

J Archaeol Res

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article reassesses the timing, context, and impetus for the onset of sedentary, complex hunter-gatherers, food production, and village life in the Near East during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Drawing on recent paleoclimatic and archaeological results, I argue that sedentism and then village life were rapid rather than gradual events that occurred during optimal climatic conditions and took place in resource-rich settings. These two social milestones included fundamental changes in economic strategies, social interaction, and ideology. Only by understanding the interplay between preexisting social institutions and human agency within communities prior to and during these periods of major social change will we be able to understand how and why food production began.

show abstract

“…As early as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, c. 9600-8500 BC), several 'special buildings' with round or oval ground plans were already present, for example, in Göbekli Tepe near Sanlıurfa (Schmidt 2006; and Jerf el Ahmar in Northern Syria (Stordeur et al 2000) (Figs 1-2). Comparable complexes with somewhat smaller dimensions were also present at the site of Gusir (Karul 2011).…”

Section: Special Buildings Of the Neolithic Near Eastmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Temples’ in the Neolithic and Copper Age in Southeast Europe

Lichter

2014

Doc. praeh.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several buildings dated to the Neolithic period and Copper Age in Southeast Europe have been designated as ‘temple’, ‘sanctuary’, ‘cultic structure’ or ‘place of cult’ in scholarly works. The present contribution discusses the problems of identifying religious architecture; it elucidates some of these archaeological records and evaluates arguments with which the designation ‘temple’ or ‘cultic structure’ is justified. Thereby, the author concludes that no structure has been found among the houses excavated in Southeast Europe that can be classified as a ‘sanctuary’. Instead, there are many indications that ritual activities took place in every dwelling and that these were specially decorated for such occasions. The author also considers so-called ‘special buildings’ of the Neolithic period in the Near East and discusses their absence in Southeast Europe.

show abstract

Les bâtiments communautaires de Jerf el Ahmar et Mureybet Horizon PPNA (Syrie).

Cited by 108 publications

References 0 publications

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Reassessing the Emergence of Village Life in the Near East

‘Temples’ in the Neolithic and Copper Age in Southeast Europe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About