R29 - Breaking the Neolithic in Asia: Questioning Tropes, Recentering Boundaries and Nuancing Lifeways

Session Organisers: Jennifer Bates, Matthew L. Conte, Yeji Lee, JungWoo Choi, Kim Pangyu

Category: Different Neolithics

Session Abstract: That the Three Age system and the subdivisions of the lithic ages do not work outside Europe and Near East has been debated in many forums. However, beyond this easily cited trope, the age-old idea of a “Neolithic” continually raises its head within literature. We see the presence of agriculture as a way to ‘mark’ the Neolithic, the absence of microliths as a marker of change, and ceramics used to debate the validity of chronological boundaries. Nuances underlying what this meant for the lives lived by people and the diversity underlying this in different regions are often overlooked in the eagerness to ‘find’ the Neolithic. The Neolithic has in essence become an ‘archaeo-geological age’ - so stratigraphically bounded and ubiquitous we find it hard to break from its presence. Local narratives are peripheralized in favour of an all encompassing, un-nuanced and imported age. In this session we invite papers that explore diversity and break the homogeneity of ‘Neolithic’ life in Asia, moving away from mere tropes to how new lifeways were adopted, assimilated, rejected or replaced in different parts of Asia. Debates in the Neolithic of Asia (e.g.: use of aquatic resources, the adoption of pastoral and agricultural systems, domestication, changes in technology) are sought to explore the diversity of what it was ‘to have been Neolithic’. Through this session we ask: is there something about the ‘Neolithic’ as a concept and term that helps people to understand the diversity of lifeways and societies associated with it across regions within Asia?

Room: K

05/11/2024

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
10:00 - 10:20	Seiji Nakayama, Manabu Uetsuki	Rethinking Neolithic from Jomon: Recent advances in archaeobotany and zooarchaeology
10:20 - 10:40	Mizanur Rahman, Amy Bogaard Bogaard, Michael Charles Charles	Archaeobotanical evidence from Wari-Bateshwar for the emergence of agriculture in the Bengal frontier zone.
10:40 - 11:00	Tsenguun Ganbold	The issue of Archaeology studies on related ancient mass hunting of Neolithic
11:00 - 11:20	Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty, Manjil Hazarika, Deepak Jha, Thomas Larsen, Patrick Roberts	Fish, Milk and Meat: An assessment of changing subsistence and human-environment interactions in Neolithic South Asia using lipid residue

Lunch Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
13:00 - 13:20	Mark Jonathan Beech, Kevin Lidour	Insights into a Neolithic maritime economy: Recent archaeological research from Abu Dhabi’s islands, United Arab Emirates
13:20 - 13:40	Daniele Petrella	The Japanese Neolithic: new research on the Jomon period through the study of the sea and its use
13:40 - 14:00	Neelima Vasudevan, Ajithprasad P	The Neolithic lithic assemblage of Meghalaya plateau, North eastern India: An Appraisal
14:00 - 14:20	Yo Negishi, Daigo Natsuki	Jomonization process in Northern Japan: emergence of pottery and sedentism

Coffee Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
14:45 - 15:05	Weihong Wu	Lingjiatan: An outbreak of prehistoric jade and stone artifacts wave in East Asia
15:05 - 15:25	Ekaterina Girchenko, Georgy Vizgalov, Oleg Kardash	Kayukovo 1 – a new sample of defensive architecture in Northern Asia
15:25 - 15:45	Leping Jiang	Paleolithic-Neolithic transition at the Shangshan site
15:45 - 16:05	Selvakumar Veerasamy, Veena Mushtrif-Tripathy, Abhayan G.S., Satish Shivaji Naik, Prabhakar V.N., Sharmila Bhattacharya, Gowrisankar S, Ravi Kant Prasad	Recent Investigation at the Neolithic Site of Molapalayam and the Extent of Southern Neolithic Culture of India