Overview

Olivier Nieuwenhuyse was a remarkable archaeologist whose work has transformed the study of later Neolithic societies in West Asia. He has inspired many colleagues and students in their own pursuit of archaeology. Through the analysis of material culture his aim was to reconstruct social meanings and practices of societies in the deep past. In this volume a series of colleagues and friends pay tribute to the scholarship of Olivier Nieuwenhuyse, who died much too young, and present a series of studies on the archaeology of Late Neolithic societies in West Asia. The volume includes a reflection on Olivier’s career in archaeology (Spoor). There are chapters on the key site of Tell Sabi Abyad, on which Olivier worked for many years, dealing with its buildings (Akkermans and Brüning), its funerary practices (Plug), and the use of bitumen at the site (Connan et al.). The next section on the book focusses on the analysis of tokens (Bennison-Chapman), figurines (Arntz, Düring), and ornaments (Belcher and Croucher), of various sites dating to the Late Neolithic in West Asia. Following this there are studies on the emergence of pottery in West Asia (Bartl, Özbal), the use of ceramic ‘husking trays’ (Balossi Restelli), and the design rules in various prehistoric pottery traditions (Bernbeck and Pollock). Finally, the last chapter presents new data on prehistoric Palmyra (Maqdissi and Ishaq). Colleagues working on Neolithic West Asia will find much of interest in this volume. We hope they will agree that this is a worthy tribute to the remarkable body of scholarship that Olivier Nieuwenhuyse has created.

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Bleda S. Düring, Leiden University (The Netherlands), Faculty of Archaeology. Bleda’s research includes the archaeology of early social complexity and early imperialism in West Asia. He is currently directing field work in Cyprus: at Chlorakas-Palloures and in Oman: the Wadi Jizzi Archaeological Project. Peter M.M.G. Akkermans is Full Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He studied Prehistory and Archaeology of Western Asia at the University of Amsterdam, where he also completed (cum laude) his PhD on Neolithic settlement in Syria. From 1990 until 2009 he was Curator of the Dept. of the Ancient Near East in the Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities, in combination with an Extraordinary Professorship of Near Eastern Prehistory at Leiden University. Since 2010 Akkermans is Full Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Leiden University.

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