Seminars on - Neolithic Emergence: Culture, Environment & Society at the Dawn of Agriculture in the Near East
Neolithic Emergence: Culture, Environment & Society at the Dawn of Agriculture in the Near East
by
Professor Steven Mithen
The origin of farming and settled communities, often referred to as the ‘Neolithic Revolution’, was the key turning point in human history. This occurred independently in several regions of the world during the early Holocene, with the first occurrence being in the Near East between 11,600 and 10,000 years ago. It was on the basis of the economic surplus that farming could provide that craft specialisation, trade and complex society could develop, eventually leading to the emergence of the early civilisations in the Middle East, China, Central and South America. While the transition from hunting & gathering to farming lifestyles in the Near East is chronologically associated with the end of the last ice age, the full explanation for why this occurred continues to elude archaeologists. In this lecture I will review recent archaeological evidence that indicates the economic change was fully related to changes in ideology and society in general. The lecture will cover recent discoveries at sites of Gobekli tepe and Jerf el Ahmar and focus on the speaker’s own excavations in Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan.
Date: Oct 31, 2008
Time:3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Rm 1118, K.K. Leung Building The University of Hong Kong
Professor Steven Mithen is currently the Rayson Huang Scholar hosted by the Music Department at the School of Humanities, HKU.He is Professor of Early Prehistory and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Reading, UK. He has a BA (Hons) in Prehistory and Archaeology from SheffieldUniversity, an MSc in Biological Computation from YorkUniversity, and a PhD in Archaeology from CambridgeUniversity.Mithen's research interests cover from the origin of Homo at c. 2 million years ago to the origin and spread of farming, up to its appearance in NW Europe at around 6000 years ago. His books include The Prehistory of the Mind (1996), After The Ice (2003), and The Singing Neanderthals (2005).