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In an extensive analysis of seven coastal sites that are spread across the East and West coast of southern Sweden, animal economy and specialised hunting is at the forefront of interpreting the subsistence strategy and mobility in Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies. Through comparative data, the following thesis will observe the differences and similarities between the aforementioned coastal regions of southern Sweden in an attempt to study the possible seasonality and sedentism of residential locations. In order to express a more nuanced variation between mobile and sedentary sites, the island of Blå Jungfrun, located on the East coast of southern Sweden, will be presented as the primary outliner when contrasting the utility and function of the various sites between one another. With an osteological assemblage that has never officially been analysed before, Blå Jungfrun offers a unique opportunity to discuss the definition of sedentary and mobile foragers, as well as provide arguments for a diverse Mesolithic past in southern Sweden – a past that is interpreted as complex with opportunistic and specialised subsistence strategies.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether fishing in southern Scandinavia may have created conditions for a sedentary lifestyle. This would contradict the current image of the Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence. The image of Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence is in a dichotomous relationship in contrast to Late mesolithic fishing subsistence, which leads to fishing amongst Early mesolithic cultures being overlooked. A dichotomous relationship has also appeared between the mesolithic and neolithic way of life, where the mesolithic attributes as nomadic hunter-gatherers are in contrast to sedentary neolithic farmers. Underwater archaeology has not until recently focused on Early mesolithic settlement. Recent discoveries in the south-eastern Sweden can indicate that fishing would have been a more central part of the Early Mesolithic society than previously assumed.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether fishing in southern Scandinavia may have created conditions for a sedentary lifestyle. This would contradict the current image of the Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence. The image of Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence is in a dichotomous relationship in contrast to Late mesolithic fishing subsistence, which leads to fishing amongst Early mesolithic cultures being overlooked. A dichotomous relationship has also appeared between the mesolithic and neolithic way of life, where the mesolithic attributes as nomadic hunter-gatherers are in contrast to sedentary neolithic farmers. Underwater archaeology has not until recently focused on Early mesolithic settlement. Recent discoveries in the south-eastern Sweden can indicate that fishing would have been a more central part of the Early Mesolithic society than previously assumed.

Hafting is an important part of lithic technology that can increase our understanding of socioeconomic behavior in the past. In this article, we develop a holistic approach to studying hafting by using the concept of curation within a broader assessment of lithic technological organization in early villages. Early villages were loci of socioeconomic transformation as part of the shift from mobile foraging to more sedentary cultivation lifeways. We suggest that an examination of hafting can provide new insights into how early villagers negotiated technological requirements, economic decision making, and social interactions in these novel contexts. As a case study, we develop a curation index and apply it to an archaeological context of hafted and unhafted pointed tools from the early Neolithic village of Dhra’, Jordan. This curation index allows for a discussion of the technological, economic, and social dimensions of hafting strategies at Dhra’. The presence of multiple hafting traditions within early Neolithic villages of Southwest Asia is evidence of persistent social segmentation despite food storage and ritual practices that emphasized communal integration. Through the lens of lithic technological organization, we demonstrate that hafting and curation patterns can increase our understanding of technological, economic, and social strategies in early villages.

Lithic artifacts are used in the understanding of human history. In order to do so, analyses and categorizations are made of the artifacts with the use of several methods and terminology. In this thesis, the minimum analytical nodule analysis (MANA) is used as method to analyze assemblages of lithic artifacts from 16 archaeological sites in Sweden. The sites date to Middle Mesolithic (c. 6800–5500 BC) and Late Mesolithic (c. 5500–3900 BC). The aim is to try to understand activities at the sites, and the theory of social organization is used. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to divide the sites into three types based on activity scenarios. In addition to this, the words ‘mobility’ and ‘sedentism’ are problematized in an attempt to understand how mobility and sedentism can be interpreted, both in the light of previous research and based on the results of this study., Litiska artefakter används i förståelsen av människans historia. För att göra det, görs analyser och kategoriseringar av materialet med användning av flertalet metoder och terminologi. I den här uppsatsen, används minimum analytical nodule analysis (MANA) som metod för att analysera samlingar av litiska artefakter från 16 arkeologiska platser (eng. sites) i Sverige. Platserna är daterade till mellanmesolitikum (ca 6800–5500 f.Kr.) och senmesolitikum (ca 5500–3900 f.Kr.). Syftet är att försöka förstå aktiviteter på platserna, och teorin om social organisation används. Studiens resultat indikerar att det är möjligt att dela in platserna i tre typer baserat på aktivitetsscenarion. Därtill, problematiseras orden ’mobilitet’ och ’sedentism’ i ett försök att förstå hur mobilitet och sedentism kan tolkas, både i ljuset av tidigare forskning och baserat på resultaten av den här studien.

Lithic artifacts are used in the understanding of human history. In order to do so, analyses and categorizations are made of the artifacts with the use of several methods and terminology. In this thesis, the minimum analytical nodule analysis (MANA) is used as method to analyze assemblages of lithic artifacts from 16 archaeological sites in Sweden. The sites date to Middle Mesolithic (c. 6800–5500 BC) and Late Mesolithic (c. 5500–3900 BC). The aim is to try to understand activities at the sites, and the theory of social organization is used. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to divide the sites into three types based on activity scenarios. In addition to this, the words ‘mobility’ and ‘sedentism’ are problematized in an attempt to understand how mobility and sedentism can be interpreted, both in the light of previous research and based on the results of this study., Litiska artefakter används i förståelsen av människans historia. För att göra det, görs analyser och kategoriseringar av materialet med användning av flertalet metoder och terminologi. I den här uppsatsen, används minimum analytical nodule analysis (MANA) som metod för att analysera samlingar av litiska artefakter från 16 arkeologiska platser (eng. sites) i Sverige. Platserna är daterade till mellanmesolitikum (ca 6800–5500 f.Kr.) och senmesolitikum (ca 5500–3900 f.Kr.). Syftet är att försöka förstå aktiviteter på platserna, och teorin om social organisation används. Studiens resultat indikerar att det är möjligt att dela in platserna i tre typer baserat på aktivitetsscenarion. Därtill, problematiseras orden ’mobilitet’ och ’sedentism’ i ett försök att förstå hur mobilitet och sedentism kan tolkas, både i ljuset av tidigare forskning och baserat på resultaten av den här studien.

Settling in permanent houses brought about cultural transformations in people’s lives, changing both their social relationships and their perceptions of the land as a social network. This paper describes the results of an ethnoarchaeological study of the village of Abu Hamid, Jordan, and illuminates some of these social transformations. The people of Abu Hamid were originally pastoralists; they lived in caves in the winter and then moved with their herds and lived in tents in the summer. The material activity of building houses brought a transformation of the community’s social norms and created a structure that regulated the relationships between the village’s inhabitants. Moreover, the physical distribution of the houses on the collective land that is held in common represented the social segmentation, both creating and reflecting the inhabitants’ perceptions of each other. I contend that settling permanently brings transformations in people’s social worlds, paving the way to more and more privatization of the landscape. With this study, I shed light on the earliest sedentary communities in the Levant and on how village architecture and family and household structures change with sedentism.

In this paper, we investigate whether the Mesolithic-Neolithic sites in the Danube Gorges were occupied seasonally or all year round by looking at animal skeletal remains. The hunting seasons of most important game animals have been determined on the basis of antler and teeth growth, supplemented by looking into the presence of migratory fish and birds. The patterns of food resource exploitation seem to indicate year-round occupation of the settlements, and suggest that a significant degree of sedentism existed in the Danube Gorges prior to, and independently of, theadoption of animal and plant husbandry.

In this paper, we investigate whether the Mesolithic-Neolithic sites in the Danube Gorges were occupied seasonally or all year round by looking at animal skeletal remains. The hunting seasons of most important game animals have been determined on the basis of antler and teeth growth, supplemented by looking into the presence of migratory fish and birds. The patterns of food resource exploitation seem to indicate year-round occupation of the settlements, and suggest that a significant degree of sedentism existed in the Danube Gorges prior to, and independently of, theadoption of animal and plant husbandry.

Este artículo pretende argumentar que el uso del concepto de “religión” en la historiografía debe ser eliminado, y que el concepto de “conversión” debe ser también matizado, si no redefinido por entero. Se propone el uso de “concepción” o “paradigma” para sustituir “religion”., This paper argues that the use of the concept “religion” in historiography ought to be ended, and that the concept of “conversion” ought also to be nuanced, if not entirely redefined. In lieu of “religion,” the use of the more accurate “conception” or “paradigm” is proposed.

Este artículo pretende argumentar que el uso del concepto de “religión” en la historiografía debe ser eliminado, y que el concepto de “conversión” debe ser también matizado, si no redefinido por entero. Se propone el uso de “concepción” o “paradigma” para sustituir “religion”., This paper argues that the use of the concept “religion” in historiography ought to be ended, and that the concept of “conversion” ought also to be nuanced, if not entirely redefined. In lieu of “religion,” the use of the more accurate “conception” or “paradigm” is proposed.

Este artículo pretende argumentar que el uso del concepto de “religión” en la historiografía debe ser eliminado, y que el concepto de “conversión” debe ser también matizado, si no redefinido por entero. Se propone el uso de “concepción” o “paradigma” para sustituir “religion”., This paper argues that the use of the concept “religion” in historiography ought to be ended, and that the concept of “conversion” ought also to be nuanced, if not entirely redefined. In lieu of “religion,” the use of the more accurate “conception” or “paradigm” is proposed.

Este artículo pretende argumentar que el uso del concepto de “religión” en la historiografía debe ser eliminado, y que el concepto de “conversión” debe ser también matizado, si no redefinido por entero. Se propone el uso de “concepción” o “paradigma” para sustituir “religion”., This paper argues that the use of the concept “religion” in historiography ought to be ended, and that the concept of “conversion” ought also to be nuanced, if not entirely redefined. In lieu of “religion,” the use of the more accurate “conception” or “paradigm” is proposed.

Este artículo pretende argumentar que el uso del concepto de “religión” en la historiografía debe ser eliminado, y que el concepto de “conversión” debe ser también matizado, si no redefinido por entero. Se propone el uso de “concepción” o “paradigma” para sustituir “religion”., This paper argues that the use of the concept “religion” in historiography ought to be ended, and that the concept of “conversion” ought also to be nuanced, if not entirely redefined. In lieu of “religion,” the use of the more accurate “conception” or “paradigm” is proposed.

My research uses a case study of Hemudu culture (7,000-5,000 BP) in eastern China to explore technological constraints of earth-working implements as a factor to explain the prolonged processes towards Neolithic agricultural land use and sedentary settlements. Early Hemudu populations lived in small villages and cultivated rice in the lowlands. They employed earth-working implements made from water buffalo scapulae; however, these implements were replaced with stone variants after 6,000 BP. These phenomena invited the following questions: (1) how did bone earth-working implements become a tradition and persist until 6,000 BP; (2) why was use of these artifacts replaced by use of stone spades; and (3) how did the choices of earth-working implements affect land use? Following ideas from Human Behavioral Ecology, Dual-Inheritance Theory, and Behavioral Archaeology, I examined bone implements' use contexts, raw material availability and procurement, costs and benefits in manufacture, techno-functional performance characteristics, and the Hemudu people's social learning strategies. These investigations involved soil science, bone and stone technologies, use-wear analysis, and zooarchaeology, along with many controlled experiments. Multiple sources of evidence led to the conclusion that the early adoption of bone spades was encouraged by scapulae's convenient morphology and acquisition, and they fulfilled the functional needs at the beginning of Kuahuqiao (8,200-7000 BP) and Hemudu exploitation of lowland environments. Frequency-dependent bias helped ensure the persistence of bone spades in Hemudu even when raw material became scarce and other artifacts would have provided marginal functional advantages. This tradition imposed significant technical and conceptual constraints that inhibited the communities from adopting other forms of agriculture and settlement construction. My research has broad implications to archaeological theories and methods for studying technologica

Field research throughout the Near East has provided a large corpus of architectural remains from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. These differ dramatically from the architectural remains of preceding cultures and, rather than simply reflecting the growth of technological know-how, indicate profound changes in the more general needs of human groups. The advent of sedentism had major impacts concerning the internal and external mindsets of the communities involved. Moreover, examination of the archaeological record of the Levant reveals that sedentism had an immediate impact as evidenced by increased community sizes and social networks. Concomitantly it brought about more subtle, incremental changes that terminated in the ‘Neolithic Revolution,’ as reflected in the architecture of the PPNB koine. The latter can be considered as the sum of the transformation processes that occurred vis-à-vis the role of architecture in the various domains of the transforming communities – as dwelling and storage structures, public buildings for communal activities and ritual institutions, amongst others.

This review aims to show how the new results from Çatalhöyük in central Turkey contribute to wider theories about the Neolithic in Anatolia and the Middle East. I argue that many of the themes found in symbolism and daily practice at Çatalhöyük occur very early in the processes of village formation and the domestication of plants and animals throughout the region. These themes include a social focus on memory construction; a symbolic focus on wild animals, violence, and death; and a central dominant role for humans in relation to the animal world. These themes occur early enough throughout the region that we can claim they are integral to the development of settled life and the domestication of plants and animals. Particularly the focus on time depth in house sequences may have been part of the suite of conditions, along with environmental and ecological factors, that “selected for” sedentism and domestication.

Successfully interpreting levels of permanence at archaeological sites is frequently hampered by the difficulty of correlating sedentary or mobile behavior with specific material culture traits. Owing to the diversity of occupation strategies, which can combine varying levels of permanence with any number of economic subsistence strategies and behavioral characteristics, archaeologists have remained divided over which methodological approaches are the most suitable. In the southern Levant, sedentary and mobile groups enjoyed a close and persistent relationship, which stimulated a flexible approach to occupation strategies, and allowed for fluctuations in levels of permanence among the same social groups through time. Such fluctuations have generated a problematic material record that can contain signs of both sedentary and mobile behaviors. Examination of the agriculturally marginal Middle Bronze II settlement of Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 1, located on the Dead Sea Plain of Jordan, illustrates the difficulties associated with interpreting occupation strategies for southern Levantine sites. The material culture record from the site, comprising evidence for economic subsistence, trade, settlement and behavior, provides at times conflicting signals for a sedentary, semi-sedentary (transhumant), or possibly non-sedentary occupation. Due to a lack of clearly prescribed indices for interpreting the permanence levels of sites, interpretations must rely on a flexible, inductive approach, which seeks to balance suites of evidence in preference to a rigid correlation with ethnographically derived models.

Concepts of refuse behavior and site abandonment have been developed that show potential to distinguish degrees of mobility and sedentism among past human communities. Whereas much of this work had been conducted in ethnographic situations or on recent sites, this study makes an initial attempt to apply this body of theory to the archaeological record of humanity's most fundamental settlement transition: from mobile hunter-gatherer to settled village farmer. The centerpiece of the study is an analysis of artefact distribution patterns in the Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 (ca. 12,000 years BP), which is combined with a diachronic overview of data from earlier and later sites, dating from 20,000 to 8000 years BP. We conclude that human communities in the Natufian period had not yet tailored their indifferent household refuse disposal practices to the long-term requirements of sedentary living. Subsequently, there occurs a punctuated gradient of change in the Levantine sequence, towards higher rates of secondary refuse disposal. Elementary efforts at refuse disposal begin in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period (ca. 10,300–9200 years BP), and some form of consistent garbage cycling was probably a standard feature in many villages by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (ca. 9200–8000 years BP).

Many archaeological models describe the development of restricted residential mobility, or sedentism, in prehistoric settings. Sedentism is often part of a suite of cultural changes, often accompanied by seed intensification, storage, population increase, environmental degradation, establishment of social hierarchy, and agriculture. Most models describe these changes as a series of events, with one precipitating the next. As a result, sedentism is interpreted as either a direct byproduct or a causative trigger of other societal changes. Results of excavations at the village site of Sunga'va (CA-INY-3806) are used to examine the timing of sedentism in relation to the development of storage and seed intensification in the Owens Valley of California. The site, which has evidence for two separate occupations from a period that has heretofore not been the subject of intensive research, suggests that sedentism developed at the same time or just before storage and some 800 years before seed intensification. Data do not support social models, such as the activity of aggrandizers or the stabilization of long-distance exchange networks, in these developments.

Many archaeological models describe the development of restricted residential mobility, or sedentism, in prehistoric settings. Sedentism is often part of a suite of cultural changes, often accompanied by seed intensification, storage, population increase, environmental degradation, establishment of social hierarchy, and agriculture. Most models describe these changes as a series of events, with one precipitating the next. As a result, sedentism is interpreted as either a direct byproduct or a causative trigger of other societal changes. Results of excavations at the village site of Sunga'va (CA-INY-3806) are used to examine the timing of sedentism in relation to the development of storage and seed intensification in the Owens Valley of California. The site, which has evidence for two separate occupations from a period that has heretofore not been the subject of intensive research, suggests that sedentism developed at the same time or just before storage and some 800 years before seed intensification. Data do not support social models, such as the activity of aggrandizers or the stabilization of long-distance exchange networks, in these developments.

This paper deals with recent changes in the life and society of the Central Kalahari San, traditional hunter-gatherers living in the =Kade area of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The sedentarization program of the Botswana government has had a profound influence on the subsistence of the Central Kalahari San. Gathering, which formerly supplied the San with 80% of the caloric value in their diet, has become less important, and their hunting methods have completely changed. Instead of traditional bow-and-arrow hunting, they were using horses for hunting in 1982. Equestrian hunting (hunting on horseback)is so effective that agreat amount of meat is acpuired in one hunting trip. They have begun to sell some of this meat to visitors to get cash. Inequality in the first distribution of meat has developed. The horse owners receive approximately half of the meat, while other participants receive only a small amount. Such inequality did not exist, when they led a nomadic life. Equality remains unchanged in the sharing of meat which is stored by horse owners. Although the principle of equality remains influential, the flow of the meat is one-way, always from the minority of the horse owners to the majority of others. Such a one-way flow of distribution did not exist in their traditional society. Besides equestrian hunting, dog hunting (hunting with spear or club, with the help of dogs) became popular in 1987. Until recently, hunting with dogs was a subsidiary method. In contrast to equestrian hunting, everybody can participate in hunting with dogs on equal terms. The meat which is acquired by hunting with dogs is distributed equally among the participants, then the participants share the meat with non-participants within the same camp. The sudden spread of hunting with dogs proves that their co-existence is still governed by egalitarianism. It is concluded that although sedentism has so deeply influenced their situation that a cultural changes has occurred, their tradition

This paper deals with recent changes in the life and society of the Central Kalahari San, traditional hunter-gatherers living in the =Kade area of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The sedentarization program of the Botswana government has had a profound influence on the subsistence of the Central Kalahari San. Gathering, which formerly supplied the San with 80% of the caloric value in their diet, has become less important, and their hunting methods have completely changed. Instead of traditional bow-and-arrow hunting, they were using horses for hunting in 1982. Equestrian hunting (hunting on horseback)is so effective that agreat amount of meat is acpuired in one hunting trip. They have begun to sell some of this meat to visitors to get cash. Inequality in the first distribution of meat has developed. The horse owners receive approximately half of the meat, while other participants receive only a small amount. Such inequality did not exist, when they led a nomadic life. Equality remains unchanged in the sharing of meat which is stored by horse owners. Although the principle of equality remains influential, the flow of the meat is one-way, always from the minority of the horse owners to the majority of others. Such a one-way flow of distribution did not exist in their traditional society. Besides equestrian hunting, dog hunting (hunting with spear or club, with the help of dogs) became popular in 1987. Until recently, hunting with dogs was a subsidiary method. In contrast to equestrian hunting, everybody can participate in hunting with dogs on equal terms. The meat which is acquired by hunting with dogs is distributed equally among the participants, then the participants share the meat with non-participants within the same camp. The sudden spread of hunting with dogs proves that their co-existence is still governed by egalitarianism. It is concluded that although sedentism has so deeply influenced their situation that a cultural changes has occurred, their tradition

Particular geographic features of the Mediterranean Levant underlie the subsistence patterns and social structures reconstructed from the archaeological remains of Epi-Paleolithic groups. The Kebaran, Geometric Kebaran, and Mushabian complexes are defined by technotypological features that reflect the distributions of social units. Radiocarbon dating and paleoclimatic data permit us to trace particular groups who, facing environmental fluctuations, made crucial changes in subsistence strategies, which, in the southern Levant, led to sedentism in base camps on the ecotone of the Mediterranean woodland-parkland and the Irano-Turanian steppe. The establishment of Early Natufian sedentary communities led to a regional change in settlement pattern. The relatively cold and dry climate of the eleventh millennium B.P. forced Negev groups into a special arid adpatation. The early Holocene onset of wetter and warmer conditions favored the earliest Neolithic (PPNA) development of village life based on the cultivation of barley and legumes, gathering of wild seeds and fruits and continued hunting.

The relationship between current interpretations of Natufian settlement and subsistence and available archaeological data are examined in light of recent research, particularly in Jordan. Regional variability in adaptive strategies is discernible, particularly between forest and coastal sites versus steppe and desert sites. Greater evidence of plant processing and more intensive occupation characterize settlement in the former, although year-round occupation has yet to be conclusively demonstrated. Patterned variability also exists between two classes of steppe and desert area settlements. One set of steppe and desert sites is characterized by a broad range of activities and moderate settlement permanence and activity intensity, while less permanent occupation and more specialized activities focused primarily on hunting typify the other set of sites. Evidence for food production in the Natufian is examined and, although the domestication process may have begun, no morphological evidence exists for the domestication of plants or herd animals. Finally, worthwhile areas for future research are outlined.