Table of Contents

1. The land and its resources: the geographic context; 2. The Mesolithic background; 3. The introduction of farming: local processes, diffusion or colonization?; 4. Foreign colonists: where from?; 5. The earliest Neolithic deposits: 'aceramic', 'pre-pottery' or 'ceramic'?; 6. The spread of the Early Neolithic in Greece: chronological and geographical aspects; 7. A case study in Early Neolithic settlement patterns: Eastern Thessaly; 8. Early Neolithic subsistence economy: the domestic and the wild; 9. The Early Neolithic village; 10. Craft specialization: the contrasting cases of chipped stone tools, pottery and ornaments; 11. A variety of daily crafts; 12. Ritual interaction? The miniature world of 'dolls or deities'; 13. Interacting with the dead: from the disposal of the body to funerary rituals; 14. Interactions among the living.

Promotional Information

This 2001 book looks at Neolithic society, including perspectives on funerary rituals and figurines.

About the Author

CATHERINE PERLES is Professor in the Department of Ethnology at the University of Paris. Her recent publications include Prehistoire du feu (1977), Les industries lithiques taillees de Franchthi (3 vols., 1987, 1990, in press) and "Greek Neolithic: a new review" (co-authored with J.-P. Demoule, 1993).

Reviews

'It is refreshing to read an excellent archaeological study written in clear language, rather than someone's second-rate storytelling.' Antiquity