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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
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Zenodo
2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17789500 |
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Table of Contents:
- This paper explores the intricate relationship between material culture, social organization, and the formation of collective identity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, focusing on three pivotal sites: Jericho, Çatalhöyük, and 'Ain Ghazal. It investigates how monumental architecture, communal practices, and symbolic representations served as "infrastructures of being," actively shaping and reinforcing group cohesion, shared narratives, and a distinct sense of self within nascent sedentary communities. By analyzing the monumental features—such as the Tower and Wall of Jericho, the densely packed agglutinative architecture and intra-mural burials of Çatalhöyük, and the large anthropomorphic statues and plastered skulls of 'Ain Ghazal—the study unpacks the diverse strategies employed by Neolithic peoples to construct and maintain collective identities. The paper argues that monumentality was not merely a static expression of power or belief, but a dynamic, lived process embedded in the daily fabric of existence, requiring sustained communal labor and fostering a deep, embodied connection to the landscape and ancestral past. A comparative approach reveals both unique regional adaptations and overarching patterns in the deployment of material culture to solidify collective identity during a period of profound social and economic transformation. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms through which early human societies forged their collective selves and navigated the challenges of sedentism and increasing social complexity.