Introduction: adopting a sedentary lifeway
Introduction: adopting a sedentary lifeway
The adoption of sedentary lifeways is increasingly recognized as an independent development which has taken place in all regions and time periods across the globe. The papers in this volume argue that sedentism is not tied into a 'Neolithic package' in which a set of elements such as pottery, agriculture, sedentism and social complexity emerge together, each facilitated by and necessary to the others. Instead, it is argued that sedentism must be investigated as a process in its own right. This paper reviews how far we have come in developing such a perspective. It examines how we identify sedentism in the archaeological record, and suggests sedentism can be usefully understood as a process in which adoption and abandonment are equal possibilities. Finally, it considers how our changing views of where and why sedentism was adopted are leading to new ways of thinking about processes of social change.
sedentism, domestication, agriculture, social change, Neolithic package
153-163
Marshall, Yvonne M.
98cd3726-90d1-4e6f-9669-07b4c08ff1df
June 2006
Marshall, Yvonne M.
98cd3726-90d1-4e6f-9669-07b4c08ff1df
Abstract
The adoption of sedentary lifeways is increasingly recognized as an independent development which has taken place in all regions and time periods across the globe. The papers in this volume argue that sedentism is not tied into a 'Neolithic package' in which a set of elements such as pottery, agriculture, sedentism and social complexity emerge together, each facilitated by and necessary to the others. Instead, it is argued that sedentism must be investigated as a process in its own right. This paper reviews how far we have come in developing such a perspective. It examines how we identify sedentism in the archaeological record, and suggests sedentism can be usefully understood as a process in which adoption and abandonment are equal possibilities. Finally, it considers how our changing views of where and why sedentism was adopted are leading to new ways of thinking about processes of social change.
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Submitted date: February 2006
Published date: June 2006
Keywords:
sedentism, domestication, agriculture, social change, Neolithic package
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Local EPrints ID: 40801
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40801
PURE UUID: 97e6cf0e-0698-4422-bd2a-514e6a26e7b8
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Date deposited: 10 Jul 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:22
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