This book examines
mortuary practices in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca 10,000-7,000 BC) and
early Pottery Neolithic (PN) (ca 7,000-6,000 BC) Levant. The great
transformation of economic structures taking place in this period in the Levant
was accompanied by a remarkable abundance and elaboration of ideologic/symbolic
expressions, many related to the deceased. The author here explores the
possible meanings and functions of mortuary practices, with the ultimate aim of
better understanding the ideologic foundations of the process of Levantine
Neolithisation. The work places the PPN mortuary practices in their wider
economic, social and ideologic/symbolic context, with emphasis on the latter,
and examines their chronological development and general cultural framework.
Finally, the author investigates whether they reflected systematic social
differentiations, their social base of organisation and their possible symbolic
meanings and functions, offering potential interpretations against a
theoretical background.