A Natufian ritual event

Leore Grosman, Natalie D. Munro

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ritual practice plays crucial social roles in human societies by communicating information about social status, calming tensions, and integrating communities. Although communication occurs through the act of ritual performance itself, the archaeological record rarely has the resolution to identify individual ritual actions. The high quality of preservation and recovery of a well-preserved grave of an unusual woman at the Late Natufian (12,000 cal BP) site of Hilazon Tachtit, Israel, enables the identification of multiple stages of a funerary ritual. These represent a variety of actions that allow glimpses into ritual performance as well as larger generalizations about Natufian ritual practice during this dynamic period at the beginning of the agricultural transition.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)311-331
Number of pages21
JournalCurrent Anthropology
Volume57
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved.

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