Terminology, Process and Change: Reflections on the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia

TY - JOUR

T1 - Terminology, Process and Change

T2 - Reflections on the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia

AU - Richter, Tobias

AU - Maher, Lisa

N1 - Online ISSN: 1756-3801

PY - 2013/11

Y1 - 2013/11

N2 - The term Epipalaeolithic, like the Neolithic, was coined in the context of late 19th- and early 20thcentury archaeological research in Europe and North Africa. It arrived later in South-west Asia, where it was used to contrast late glacial hunter-gatherers with the sedentary, socially complex farmers of the Holocene aceramic Neolithic. In this contribution we reflect on the history of Epipalaeolithic terminology, its past and current use as an interpretive heuristic, and consider how data from recent research affect (and perhaps call into question) the validity and perceived meaning of the term as it is applied to the Neolithic transition in South-west Asia.

AB - The term Epipalaeolithic, like the Neolithic, was coined in the context of late 19th- and early 20thcentury archaeological research in Europe and North Africa. It arrived later in South-west Asia, where it was used to contrast late glacial hunter-gatherers with the sedentary, socially complex farmers of the Holocene aceramic Neolithic. In this contribution we reflect on the history of Epipalaeolithic terminology, its past and current use as an interpretive heuristic, and consider how data from recent research affect (and perhaps call into question) the validity and perceived meaning of the term as it is applied to the Neolithic transition in South-west Asia.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Epipalaeolithic

KW - Prehistoric Archaeology

KW - LEVANT

KW - Near Eastern Archaeology

U2 - 10.1179/0075891413z.00000000020

DO - 10.1179/0075891413z.00000000020

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0075-8914

VL - 45

SP - 121

EP - 132

JO - Levant

JF - Levant

IS - 2

ER -