Bouqras Revisited: Preliminary Report on a Project in Eastern Syria

Akkermans, Peter A.; Boerma, J.A.K.; Clason, A.T.; Hill, Sarah; Lohof, E.; Meiklejohn, Christopher; Mière, M. Le; Molgat, G. M. F.; Roodenberg, Jacob; Rooyen, W. Waterbolk-van; Zeist, W. van

doi:10.1017/s0079497x00008045

Cited by 45 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Some may even have consciously rejected the novelty and the practices associated with these new objects (Bernbeck , 2017. At the Neolithic village of Bouqras on the Syrian Euphrates, it is significant to note that pottery was not adopted before the later part of the seventh millennium (Akkermans et al 1983).…”

Section: Archaeological Approaches To Late Neolithic Settlementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming the Upper Mesopotamian Landscape in the Late Neolithic

Nieuwenhuyse¹,

Akkermans²

2019

Concluding the Neolithic

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The Late Neolithic period in Upper Mesopotamia is generally associated with a surge in human settlement, in terms of their number, geographic distribution, and organizational complexity. In archaeological discussion, the "advanced farming village" is often seen as the logical "end product" of the agricultural transformations that began in the Early ("Pre-Pottery") Neolithic. However, the complex later prehistoric landscape did not emerge overnight. Current evidence suggests that this profound transformation took about one and a half millennia, and showed much localized variability. Over the past decades, regional surveys have resulted in a rich body of evidence that stimulates the exploration of long-term trends in settlement through the Neolithic period. Here we present a synthesis of this exploration. We highlight some important methodological and conceptual challenges to interpreting these data, and we point out a number of possible shifts in the ways Late Neolithic communities inhabited the landscape.

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Section: Archaeological Approaches To Late Neolithic Settlementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming the Upper Mesopotamian Landscape in the Late Neolithic

Nieuwenhuyse¹,

Akkermans²

2019

Concluding the Neolithic

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“…For example at Çatalh€ oyük East, one of the sites that continued throughout the 8.2 ka event, wild plant resources like tubers, nuts and fruits as well as wild animals were an important addition to the diet throughout the site's history (Asouti and Fairbairn, 2002;Fairbairn et al, 2007;Fuller et al, 2014;Roberts and Rosen, 2009;Russell and Martin, 2005). At many other sites, wild plants and animals were also used as an addition to the diet, although with their importance and the used species varying between sites (Akkermans et al, 1983(Akkermans et al, , 2006Fairbairn et al, 2007;Kansa et al, 2009;Russell and Buitenhuis, 2008;but see Cappers, 2014). While wild resources appear to have been often only small additions to the diet, such small extras would have been important in times of stress.…”

Section: Why Is There No Evidence For An Impact Of the Rapid Climate mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of resilience to past climate change in Southwest Asia: Early farming communities and the 9.2 and 8.2 ka events

Flohr

Fleitmann

Matthews

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

137

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Available online xxxKeywords: Climate and society Southwest Asia Neolithic 8.2 ka event 9.2 ka event Resilience a b s t r a c t Climate change is often cited as a major factor in social change. The so-called 8.2 ka event was one of the most pronounced and abrupt Holocene cold and arid events. The 9.2 ka event was similar, albeit of a smaller magnitude. Both events affected the Northern Hemisphere climate and caused cooling and aridification in Southwest Asia. Yet, the impacts of the 8.2 and 9.2 ka events on early farming communities in this region are not well understood. Current hypotheses for an effect of the 8.2 ka event vary from large-scale site abandonment and migration (including the Neolithisation of Europe) to continuation of occupation and local adaptation, while impacts of the 9.2 ka have not previously been systematically studied. In this paper, we present a thorough assessment of available, quality-checked radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates for sites from Southwest Asia covering the time interval between 9500 and 7500 cal BP, which we interpret in combination with archaeological evidence. In this way, the synchronicity between changes observed in the archaeological record and the rapid climate events is tested. It is shown that there is no evidence for a simultaneous and widespread collapse, large-scale site abandonment, or migration at the time of the events. However, there are indications for local adaptation. We conclude that early farming communities were resilient to the abrupt, severe climate changes at 9250 and 8200 cal BP.

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“…The position of the pieces of this cranium and the fact that the others in Group B are not fractured, suggest that this fragmentation was an intentional action. A similar case was documented in Room 6 of House 12 at Bouqras, Syria, where a fractured cranium that had been affected by fire was found (Akkermans et al, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Crania with mutilated facial skeletons: A new ritual treatment in an early Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B cranial cache at Tell Qarassa North (South Syria)

Santana

Velasco

Ibáñez

et al. 2012

American J Phys Anthropol

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The removal of crania from burials, their ritual use and their disposal, generally in cranial caches, are the most particular characteristics of the funerary ritual in the transition to the Neolithic in the Near East. Despite the importance of this ritual, detailed studies of cranial caches are rare. This funerary ritual has traditionally been interpreted as a form of ancestor‐veneration. However, this study of the cranial caches found at the site of Tell Qarassa North, South Syria, dated in the second half of the ninth millennium BC, questions this interpretation. The 12 crania, found in two groups arranged in two circles on the floor of a room, belonged to male individuals, apart from one child and one preadolescent. In 10 of the 11 cases, the facial skeletons were deliberately mutilated. In the context of the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B, when the symbolism of the human face played a vital role in ritual practice, this mutilation of the facial skeleton could be interpreted as an act of hostility. In the absence of indicators of social stratification or signs of violence that might indicate more coercive forms of society, the veneration of ancestors has been explained as a mechanism for social cohesion, which would have been necessary in a context of rapid growth in the population of settlements. However, data on the negative nature of some funerary rites, of punishment or indifference rather than veneration, should make us question an over‐idealized view of the first Neolithic societies. Am J Phys Anthropol 149:205–216, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Bouqras Revisited: Preliminary Report on a Project in Eastern Syria

Cited by 45 publications

References 15 publications

Transforming the Upper Mesopotamian Landscape in the Late Neolithic

Transforming the Upper Mesopotamian Landscape in the Late Neolithic

Evidence of resilience to past climate change in Southwest Asia: Early farming communities and the 9.2 and 8.2 ka events

Crania with mutilated facial skeletons: A new ritual treatment in an early Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B cranial cache at Tell Qarassa North (South Syria)

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