Oxford Brookes University, Department of Social Sciences, Gibbs Building, Gipsy Ln, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, England [wfinlayson@brookes.ac.uk]

Abstract. There is evidence that early Neolithic societies in Southwest Asia promoted egalitarian behavior, through mechanisms such as mortuary practices which concealed individual identity, and sharing of food resources, for example in communal granaries. It has often been assumed that this egalitarian behavior continues traditional huntergatherer practices, designed to resist the potential for individual, or household wealth differentiation permitted by innovative food production and storage practices. However, there is little, or no evidence that the preceding Natufian culture was representative of what we identify as a typical hunter-gatherer society. Equality may have been just one of the innovations developed by early Neolithic societies, subsequently replaced in the later Neolithic and the development of a more hierarchical social system.

Keywords: Neolithic, Southwest Asia, egalitarian, sharing, storage.

Received 02.01.2020, accepted 29.01.2020.

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2020-1-27-43

For citation: Finlayson B. Egalitarian societies and the earliest Neolithic of Southwest Asia. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2020 (1), 27-43 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2020-1-27-43

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