Overview

The move towards a sedentary way of life had a profound effect on the human way of life: the development of complex societies can be directly attributed to the beginnings of farming in place of a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle. When Gordon Childe coined the term 'Neolithic revolution' he meant it to reflect these vast changes that had occurred in the near east. But recent studies have challenged the notion that Cyprus was not occupied prior to the island's Neolithic period, and indeed it now seems as though Cyrpus has been overlooked unfairly. This book extends the reach of the Neolithic revolution to include Cyprus, presenting new evidence that shows that the island played host to settled farming communities at the same time as the mainland, pushing its habitation back by 2000 years. Included in this volume are papers on colonisation, the devlopment of farming, lithic usage, trade, and symbolism.

Full Product Details

Author:   E.J. Peltenburg ,  Alexander Wasse
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
Volume:   No. 1
Dimensions:   Width: 21.30cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 30.20cm
Weight:   1.057kg
ISBN:  

9781842171325

ISBN 10:   1842171321
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   01 June 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: a revised Cypriot prehistory and some implications for the study of the Neolithic (Edgar Peltenburg); Bitter hippos of Cyprus: the island's first occupants and last endemic animals - setting the stage for colonization (Alan H Simmons); Island colonization, insularity or mainstream? (Bill Finlayson); Putting the colonization of Cyprus into context (Trevor Watkins); The domestic status of the early Neolithic fauna of Cyprus: a view from the mainland (Liora Kolska Horwitz, Eitan Tchernov and Hitomi Hongo); Reappraisal of the archaeobotanical evidence for the emergence and dispersal of the 'founder crops' (Sue Colledge); Abu Hureyra and the development of farming in western Asia: directions for future research (A M T Moore); Social space in early sedentary communities of Southwest Asia and Cyprus (Edgar Peltenburg); The emergence of the Mediterranean Fishing Village in the Levant and the anomaly of Neolithic Cyprus (Ehud Galili, Avi Gopher, Baruch Rosen and Liora Kolska Horwitz); Cypriot Neolithic chipped stone industries and the progress of regionalization (Carole McCartney); Hill and vale: understanding prehistoric lithic use in Cyprus (Sarah Tyrrell Stewart); Flint workshops of the Southern Beqa' Valley (Lebanon): preliminary results from Qar'oun (Maya Haidar-Boustani); Geometric patterns on pebbles: early identity symbols? (Anna Eirikh-Rose); Tools and toys or traces of trade: the problem of the enigmatic incised objects from Cyprus and the Levant (Sarah Tyrrell Stewart and David W Rupp); Neolithique and Eneolithique Byblos in Southern Levantine context (Yosef Garfinkel).

Reviews

Neolithic Revolution opens the way for archaeologists of both Cypriot and southwest Asian prehistory to think about the island as part of a much wider cultural sphere....the first of a number of volumes that have begun to change the way in which we view the prehistory of Cyprus and southwest Asia, and many more will no doubt follow.'--Joanne Clarke American Journal of Archaeology Online Book Review (01/01/0001)

this publication makes an invaluable contribution to the earlier prehistoric archaeology of Cyprus and the Levant.'--Paula Louise Jones Antiquity (01/01/0001)

Author Information

edited by Edgar Peltenburg and Alexander Wasse

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