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oapen-20.500.12657-873682024-03-28T14:03:11Z Rethinking Neolithic Societies Heitz, Caroline Wunderlich, Maria Hinz, Martin Furholt, Martin archaeology; prehistory; neolithic; social organization; communities; societies; politics; identity; social theory; spatiality; temporality; materialism thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NK Archaeology::NKD Archaeology by period / region thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3B Prehistory Traditional archaeological ideas about Neolithic societies were shaped by questionable premises. The modern concept of social and cultural coherence of residence groups as well as the ethnic interpretation of ‘archaeological cultures’ fostered ideas of static and homogeneous social entities with fixed borders. Farming – as the core of the Neolithic way of life – was associated with sedentariness rather than with spatial mobility and cross-regional social networks. Furthermore, the widely used (neo-)evolutionist thinking universally assumed a growing social complexity and hierarchisation during prehistory. After all, such ‘top-down'–perspectives deprived individuals and groups of genuine agency and creativity while underestimating the relational dynamic between the social and material worlds. In recent years, a wide array of empirical results on social practices related to material culture and settlement dynamics, (inter-)regional entanglements and spatial mobility were published. For the latter the adoption of the relatively new scientific methods in archaeology like Stable Isotope Analysis as well as aDNA played a crucial role. Yet the question of possible inferences regarding spatial and temporal differences in forms of social organisation has not been addressed sufficiently. The aim of this volume is therefore to rethink former top-down concepts of Neolithic societies by studying social practices and different forms of Neolithic social life by adopting bottom-up social archaeological perspectives. Furthermore, the validity and relevance of terms like ‘society’, ‘community’, ‘social group’ etc. will be discussed. The contributions reach from theoretical to empirical ones and thematize a variety of social theoretical approaches as well as methodological ways of combining different sorts of data. They show the potential of such bottom-up approaches to infer models of social practices and configurations which may live up to the potential social diversity and dynamism of Neolithic societies. The contribution shed light on spatial mobility, social complexity, the importance of (political) interests and factors of kinship etc. We hope that this volume, with its focus on the Neolithic of Europe, will contribute to the ongoing critical debates of theories and concepts as well as on our premises and perspectives on Neolithic societies in general – and the practices of social archaeology as such. 2024-01-30T13:28:36Z 2024-01-30T13:28:36Z 2023 book 9789464270662 9789464270679 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/87368 eng Open Series in Prehistoric Archaeology application/pdf Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International 9789464270662.pdf https://www.sidestone.com/books/rethinking-neolithic-societies Sidestone Press Sidestone Press Academics 10.59641/ndr028gp 10.59641/ndr028gp 471fd6d5-f295-4fd0-a13a-e60a6420f603 07f61e34-5b96-49f0-9860-c87dd8228f26 9789464270662 9789464270679 Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) Sidestone Press Academics 5 296 Leiden SNF-Projekt Nr. 156205 and 194326. Mobilities, Entanglements and Transformations in Neolithic Societies of the Swiss Plateau (3900-3500 BC) and Time and Temporality in Archaeology. Approaching Rhythms and Reasons for Societal (Trans)formations in Prehistoric Central Europe (TimeArch) Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung Swiss National Science Foundation open access
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Traditional archaeological ideas about Neolithic societies were shaped by questionable premises. The modern concept of social and cultural coherence of residence groups as well as the ethnic interpretation of ‘archaeological cultures’ fostered ideas of static and homogeneous social entities with fixed borders. Farming – as the core of the Neolithic way of life – was associated with sedentariness rather than with spatial mobility and cross-regional social networks. Furthermore, the widely used (neo-)evolutionist thinking universally assumed a growing social complexity and hierarchisation during prehistory. After all, such ‘top-down'–perspectives deprived individuals and groups of genuine agency and creativity while underestimating the relational dynamic between the social and material worlds. In recent years, a wide array of empirical results on social practices related to material culture and settlement dynamics, (inter-)regional entanglements and spatial mobility were published. For the latter the adoption of the relatively new scientific methods in archaeology like Stable Isotope Analysis as well as aDNA played a crucial role. Yet the question of possible inferences regarding spatial and temporal differences in forms of social organisation has not been addressed sufficiently.
The aim of this volume is therefore to rethink former top-down concepts of Neolithic societies by studying social practices and different forms of Neolithic social life by adopting bottom-up social archaeological perspectives. Furthermore, the validity and relevance of terms like ‘society’, ‘community’, ‘social group’ etc. will be discussed. The contributions reach from theoretical to empirical ones and thematize a variety of social theoretical approaches as well as methodological ways of combining different sorts of data. They show the potential of such bottom-up approaches to infer models of social practices and configurations which may live up to the potential social diversity and dynamism of Neolithic societies. The contribution shed light on spatial mobility, social complexity, the importance of (political) interests and factors of kinship etc. We hope that this volume, with its focus on the Neolithic of Europe, will contribute to the ongoing critical debates of theories and concepts as well as on our premises and perspectives on Neolithic societies in general – and the practices of social archaeology as such.
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