Transformations of society : the changing role of ritual and symbolism in the PPNB and the PN in the Levant, Syria and south-east Anatolia

Abstract

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) and the Pottery Neolithic (PN) in the Levant, Syria and South-East Anatolia are compared with regard to ritual practice and symbolism. With regard to ritual, it is argued that instead of the suggested structuring principles in the PPNB of communality, dominant symbolism, vitality and people-animal linkage, PN rituals were marked by what has been called domesticity. In the apparent absence of a clear social hierarchy and leadership in both the PPNB and the PN — apart from probable village meetings - communal ritual in the PPNB and pottery decoration in the PN are considered to have been (symbolic) systems which helped to regulate society. The transformations from PPNB to PN society - which probably consisted not only of farmers but of nomadic pastoralists and hunter- gatherer s as well - seem to have been caused a complex set interrelated social and economic factors.

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