R08 - The Evidence of Violence in the Neolithic Buildings of Southeastern Turkey and its Possible Relations with Other Regions

Session Organisers: Jesus Gil Fuensanta, Alfredo Mederos Martin, Güner Coşkunsu

Category: Anthropology / Burial Practices

Session Abstract: The Neolithic in various regions of the world (Western Asia, Central Europe) has been associated with one of the first periods of human history where the greatest abundance of archaeological records with evidence of interpersonal violence took place. During the Early Neolithic (so-called Pre-Pottery, PPN A and B) Period of Southeastern Turkey, c. 9500-7000 BC, a series of buildings associated with the idea of central or communal sanctuaries appeared. The transition from Aceramic Neolithic (PPN) A to B in many regions of the Near East entails evident changes in the archaeological record on material culture; and there is evidence of the existence of the changes due partially to some conflict. From the advanced phase of the Early Neolithic (PPNB) the presence of human remains coupled with the idea of interpersonal violence began to abound (eg. beheadings, sealing the ritual buildings of Neolithic Göbekli Tepe final phase with chopped human bones), a type of presence that already was listed in earlier phase (PPNA) locations at the Levant (such as Jerico in the Jordan Valley) or the use of stone mace-head in burials at Kortik Tepe (Eastern Turkey). These desecrations of the human body seem not only characteristic of the pre-pottery phase of the Neolithic of the Levant or eastern-central Turkey, since in later phases of the Neolithic of Western Asia (as example, the Halaf culture) reliable evidence has been found not only of conflicts, but of consumption of human remains (Domuz Tepe, Eastern Turkey). In addition, the existence of lithic materials typical of the eastern area (for example, arrowheads from the cultures of the Israel-Jordan area) associated with the area of the Göbeklitepe buildings is supplementary evidence regarding this “conflict” issue. Such discoveries, made gradually in the last decades of the research on the Neolithic of the region, put into question a new reinterpretation of some aspects and mentality of the final phase of Prehistory regarding the human violence.

Room: F

07/11/2024

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
14:45 - 15:05	Rustam Khamidovich Suleymanov, Alisher Gaffarovich Muminov	Introduction to the “culture of violence” in the Neolithic of Western Asia: An anthropological vision regarding aggression in Prehistory
15:05 - 15:25	Alfredo Mederos Martin	Defensive spaces and circulation: The obsidian network associated with the “self-protected” villages of the Anatolian system
15:25 - 15:45	Vanesa Toscano Rivera	Anthropology on the women of PPN Central Anatolia: Cases of Psychological and Physiological Violence.
15:45 - 16:05	Alisher Gaffarovich Muminov	Peaceful nomads in Central Asia and a Culture of violence in the Neolithic of Western Asia?: Comparisons and differences.

Coffee Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
16:30 - 16:50	Jesus Gil Fuensanta	A History of Violence: The “cultural” spread of the South Levant Pre-Pottery Neolithic into Western Asia.
16:50 - 17:10	Otabek Uktamovich Muminov	Reflections on Epipaleolithic man and the probable connections on the violence in the Aceramic Neolithic of Western Asia
17:10 - 17:30	Ariel James	Buildings as spaces of peace or aggression during the Neolithic of Northern Mesopotamia.