Pre-ceramic Neolithic
The Pre-Ceramic Neolithic is the name given to the early Neolithic in various regions of the world, when agriculture and cattle breeding were practiced, but no clay pots were made. However, figurines and other objects made of baked clay may well be known. Such epochs existed in the Middle East and the Eastern Aegean, among others .
Concept history
Kathleen Kenyon coined the term Pre-pottery Neolithic in the 1950s when she found a basal sequence of layers without pottery during excavations at Tell es-Sultan of Jericho (1952–1958). Since at this time the hypothesis of a “ Neolithic Revolution ” with a relatively quick transition to the rural economy was advocated, the temporal separation of agriculture ( domestication of plants and animals) and sedentariness of the pottery, which was previously regarded as simultaneously, caused a sensation.
The term akeramisches Neolithikum or Akeramikum is sometimes used synonymously. However, Reingruber points out that aceramic episodes can also occur if the use of fired clay is already known. For example, John Evans originally interpreted the earliest layers of Knossos as a short-term settlement of immigrants who did not produce ceramics simply because of the special circumstances.
Ceramic eras can also occur in later epochs, such as the Irish Late Iron Age and the Welsh, Scottish and Irish Early Middle Ages.
Middle East
In the Middle East there was since the 9th millennium BC Vessels made of stone, plaster of paris and lime ( vaiselles blanches or white ware ). The so-called white ware was formed from burnt lime or plaster, presumably in baskets. The PPN extends from the beginning of the Holocene to the early 7th millennium. The epoch is divided into the periods Pre-Ceramic Neolithic A and Pre-Ceramic Neolithic B , abbreviated internationally as PPNA and PPNB (from the English Pre-Pottery Neolithic ). In Palestine and Cyprus there is also a level C ( Pre-Ceramic Neolithic C , PPNC).
Anatolia
In Anatolia there is a pre-ceramic Neolithic at sites such as Aşıklı Höyük , Göbekli Tepe , Pınarbaşı (Tell) and Boncuklu . This is sometimes divided into phases PPN A and B based on the Levatinous terminology, a practice that Michael Rosenberg and Aslı Erim-Özdoğan reject as misleading. You speak, however, of the early and late pre-ceramic Neolithic. James Mellaart described ceramic layers from Çatal Höyük , but ceramic was found again in the following (last) excavation season.
Aegean
In the lowest strata of Knossos on Crete , John Evans uncovered an aceramic Neolithic settlement.
In Thessaly , Vladimir Milojčić postulated the existence of an aceramic Neolithic, but this has turned out to be incorrect. Dimitrios Theocharis also claimed the existence of ceramic layers for Kastraki Magoula ( Sesklo ), Soufli Magoula and Achilleion , but later excavations by Gallis and Gimbutas could not prove this.
The question of an aceramic Neolithic in Thessaly was linked to the discussion about the origin of the Greek Neolithic - did it come about on site or did its bearers immigrate from Anatolia (?)
literature
- Glyn Daniel : Encyclopedia of Archeology. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1977, ISBN 3-930656-37-X , p. 19.
supporting documents
- ^ Denise Schmandt-Besserat: The Beginnings of the Use of Clay in Turkey. In: Anatolian Studies 27, 1977, pp. 133-150. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3642659 , accessed 20-12-2018.
- ↑ Kathleen M. Kenyon: Digging up Jericho. Benn, London 1957.
- ^ Vere Gordon Childe : Man makes himself. Watts, London 1936 (German: Man creates himself. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1959)
- ^ Agathe Reingruber: The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in a circum-Aegean perspective: concepts and narratives. In: Apostolos Sarris et al. (Ed.): Communities, landscapes and interaction in Neolithic Greece. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory 2017. p. 10.
- ^ "Temporary camp of immigrants", John Evans, Excavations at the Neolithic settlement of Knossos, 1957-1960. Part I. Annuals of the British School at Athens 59, 1964, 132-240.
- ↑ Barry Raftery: The conundrum of Irish Iron Age pottery. In: Barry Raftery, Vincent Megaw, Val Rigby (eds.): Sites and sights of the Iron Age: essays on fieldwork and museum research presented to Ian Matheson Stead . Oxford, Oxbow, 149-156
- ^ Ian Armit: Irish-Scottish connections in the first millennium AD: an evaluation of the links between basement ware and Hebridean ceramics. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archeology, Culture, History, Literature 108C, 2008, 4. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40657920
- ↑ Caroline Earwood: Turned Wooden Vessels of the Early Historic Period from Ireland and Western Scotland. Ulster Journal of Archeology 54/55, 1991/92, 154-159.
- ^ Agathe Reingruber: The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in a circum-Aegean perspective: concepts and narratives. In: Apostolos Sarris et al. (Ed.): Communities, landscapes and interaction in Neolithic Greece. Ann Arbor, International Monographs in Prehistory 2017, 9
- ↑ Michael Rosenberg, Aslı Erim-Özdoğan: The Neolithic in Southeastern Anatolia. In: Gregory McMahon, Sharon Steadman (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia, 10,000-323 BCE. Oxford University Press, Oxford, published online: Nov 2012 doi : 10.1093 / oxfordhb / 9780195376142.013.0006 .
- ↑ James Mellaart: Çatal Hüyük: a Neolithic town in Anatolia. Thames and Hudson, London 1967.
- ↑ John D. Evans: Neolithic Knossos; the growth of a settlement. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 37/2, 1971, pp. 95-117.
- ↑ Nikos Efstratiou, Alexandra Karetsou, Eleni S. Banou, Despina Margomenou: The Neolithic settlement of Knossos: new light on an old picture . In: Gerald Cadogan, Eleni Hatzaki, Adonis Vasilakis (eds.): Knossos: Palace, city, state. British School at Athens Studies 12, 2004, pp. 39-49. Stable url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960764 .
- ↑ Agathe Reingruber: The German excavations on the Argissa-Magula in Thessaly II. The Argissa-Magula. The early and beginning middle Neolithic in the light of Transagean relations . Contributions to the prehistoric and early historical archeology of the Mediterranean cultural area 35. Habelt, Bonn 2008.
- ^ Agathe Reingruber: The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in a circum-Aegean perspective: concepts and narratives. In: Apostolos Sarris et al. (Ed.): Communities, landscapes and interaction in Neolithic Greece. Ann Arbor, International Monographs in Prehistory 2017, p. 10.
- ↑ Kostas Kotsakis: Mesolithic to Neolithic in Greece. Continuity, discontinuity or change of course? In: Documenta Praehistorica XXVIII, 2001, 63-73, https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/download/28.4/6177 .