Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society
Vital Matters
Published on 10. February 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
399 pages
978-1-107-67126-3 (ISBN)
Description
This book tackles the topic of religion, a broad subject exciting renewed interest across the social and historical sciences. The volume is tightly focused on the early farming village of Catalhoeyuek, which has generated much interest both within and outside of archaeology, especially for its contributions to the understanding of early religion. The volume discusses contemporary themes such as materiality, animism, object vitality, and material dimensions of spirituality while at the same time exploring broad evolutionary changes in the ways in which religion has influenced society. The volume results from a unique collaboration between an archaeological team and a range of specialists in ritual and religion.
Reviews / Votes
'Ian Hodder presents Catalhoeyuek in a new perspective and invites an exciting interdisciplinary group to respond. It is like a particle accelerator in action, as their collisions spin off all sorts of new insights from a site at a pivotal Neolithic moment in human history.' Trevor Watkins, University of Edinburgh 'Catalhoeyuek has long stimulated the imagination and provoked bold ideas. Continuing an innovative project already remarkable for its daring, Ian Hodder has again put into conversation scholars bringing an impressive range of disciplinary perspectives.' Webb Keane, University of Michigan 'This innovative and path-breaking book provides indispensable insights into the material and immaterial worlds of Neolithic community, ritual, and religion. The essays of these international scholars will quickly draw readers into the exciting worlds of Neolithic life in general, and Catalhoeyuek in particular, and reshape debate and discussion of daily life within Neolithic communities for years to come.' Ian Kuijt, University of Notre DameMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
2 Tables, unspecified; 1 Maps; 18 Halftones, unspecified; 28 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
757 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-107-67126-3 (9781107671263)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
02/2014
Cambridge University Press
€118.40
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
12/2013
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Ian Hodder is Dunlevie Family Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Archaeology Center. He previously taught at Leeds University and Cambridge University. His main large-scale excavation projects have been at Haddenham in the east of England and at Catalhoeyuek in Turkey, where he has worked since 1993. He has been awarded the Oscar Montelius Medal by the Swedish Society of Antiquaries and the Huxley Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute, has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and has Honorary Doctorates from Bristol and Leiden Universities. His main books include Spatial Analysis in Archaeology (Cambridge University Press, 1976), Symbols in Action (Cambridge University Press, 1982), Reading the Past (Cambridge University Press, 1986), The Domestication of Europe (1990), The Archaeological Process (1999), The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Catalhoeyuek (2006) and Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships Between Humans and Things (2012).
Content
1. The vitalities of Catalhoeyuek Ian Hodder; Part I. Vital Religion: The Evolutionary Context of Religion at Catalhoeyuek: 2. Different strokes for different folks: Near Eastern Neolithic mortuary practices in perspective Nigel Goring-Morris and Anna Belfer-Cohen; 3. Excavating theogonies: anthropomorphic promiscuity and sociographic prudery in the Neolithic and now LeRon Shults; 4. Religion as anthropomorphism at Catalhoeyuek Stewart Guthrie; 5. The historical self: memory and religion at Catalhoeyuek J. Wentzel van Huyssteen; 6. Modes of religiosity and the evolution of social complexity at Catalhoeyuek Harvey Whitehouse, Camilla Mazzucato, Ian Hodder and Quentin D. Atkinson; Part II. Vital Materials at Catalhoeyuek: 7. Relational networks and religious sodalities at Catalhoeyuek Barbara Mills; 8. Using 'magic' to think from the material: tracing distributed agency, revelation, and concealment at Catalhoeyuek Carolyn Nakamura and Peter Pels; 9. 'Motherbaby': a death in childbirth at Catalhoeyuek Kimberley Patton and Lori Hager; 10. The hau of the house Mary Weismantel; 11. Material register, surface, and form at Catalhoeyuek Victor Buchli; 12. The use of spatial order in Catalhoeyuek material culture Anke Kamerman; Part III. Vital Data: 13. Theories and their data: interdisciplinary interactions at Catalhoeyuek Ian Hodder.