Γέννηση των Θεοτήτων. Γέννηση της Γεωργίας. Η Επανάσταση των Συμβόλων στη Νεολιθική Εποχή

by Jacques Cauvin, Σοφία Πρεβέ (Translator)

This innovative study analyzes the great cultural and economic changes occurring in the Near East between 10,000 and 7,000 BC as Palaeolithic societies of hunter-gatherers gave way to village communities of Neolithic food-producers. Challenging the orthodox, materialist interpretations, and drawing on French theories of mentalities, Jacques Cauvin argues that the Neolithic revolution must be understood as an intellectual transformation, revealing itself above all in symbolic activities. He describes the emergence of the first agricultural villages, pastoralism and nomadism, and the diffusion of Neolithic ideas and practice to the region's periphery.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Religion, Anthropology, Prehistory, Ancient History

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes a strong case that the central driver of the neolithic age was a cultural transformation of humanity, not climate change or population pressure. Of course, a stable climate is a necessary precondition, but there were previous periods of favorable climates open to humans, too. And population pressure is simply a conjecture without empirical support. Given the incredibly low population density in this era, it seems more plausible that we are retrojecting a modern problem deep into the past. An additional reason why I'm not compelled by the demographic argument is that it took people many centuries to domesticate plants and animals-- it's not a switch you can turn on when your settlement feels crowded. It's a much longer term and deeply held commitment to faithfully carry out this project.

Cauvin points out that humans created settlements before the neolithic without practicing agriculture. Local populations certainly rose and declined many times without pushing them towards agriculture. Humans certainly had the cognitive ability to domesticate plants and animals for many millennia without doing so. Cauvin argues that it was changes in social and cultural conditions, something in the collective psychology of these people groups that led them to deliberately choose a way of living that departed so sharply from the lives of their predecessors.

Cauvin maintains that a major ideological change, "a revolution of symbols", is the principle driver of the transition to agriculture. Instead of being recipients of the natural cycles of the world, humans intervened to become active producers. The revolution was the idea that man could control his own destiny by controlling his food supply-- his role in nature and the cosmos was forever changed.

I think Cauvin's proposal of the widespread adoption of a mother goddess and bull cult is an over-interpretation of the archaeological evidence, but there is clearly a major transformation in the symbolism present at these ancient sites. I think the hardest thing to do would be to reconstruct the gods of a long-gone people, but one could surmise that ritual and symbolic activity of some sort could lead to major transformations in the material culture and physical manifestation of humans in their surrounding environment.

This interpretation brings into strong contrast the ideologies of researchers themselves. Some are certain that material conditions drive all of human history (just like any other species). Their interpretative framework is the combination of changing environmental conditions and the biological heritage of humans. Everything else is secondary. Obviously, this is much easier to quantify, model, extrapolate, and generalize. It sounds more "objective" and "scientific". I would call this the "natural history" model of understanding humanity.

Cauvin's interpretation fits in the category of what I would call "human history". It pays attention to variables that are mostly unique to humans-- agency, imagination, goals, rituals, art, aesthetics. Evolutionary psychologists and behavioral economists often claim that they can capture and quantify these variables, thereby bringing them into natural history. I think they can to some degree, but it also loses much in the process.

I think that human history and natural history both have a lot to contribute to understanding the past and our place in it. Both, at their best, place a high priority on empirical evidence, though they weight the different kinds of evidence differently. Both approaches also depend on theory, both explicit and implicit. I'm very leery of scholars claiming that one can supersede the other. To do so would be like gauging out your eyes because they give you different information that what you can glean from listening.

[Gary Reger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacques Cauvin pursues a study in cognitive archaeology in "The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture." His aim is to use changes in material culture in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B in the Middle East to explore the impact of agriculture and the domestication of herd animals on the mental landscapes of prehistoric people. Insisting that their cognitive apparatus was no different from ours (quite the opposite of Julian Jaynes in his "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind"), he pulls together new anthropomorphic representations of men and women and bulls to understand religious changes connected with agriculture and herding. He sees female deities as earlier -- he does not, however, fully embrace the idea of a pre-agricultural matriarchy argued by Maria Gimbutas, among others -- followed by masculinized bulls and male figurines. A very striking argument is derived from the move from round houses to rectangular -- a matter I had never given any thought to before. He also sees pastoral nomadism as developing later than agriculture. The whole comes together in the end as an explanation for the spread of the Neolithic as driven by the cognitive-psychological innovations he's traced.

This is a fascinating, challenging book, full of argument, based on very wide reading, and copiously illustrated. The English translation was published in 2000 using the 1997 second French edition; it has a short postscript reviewing some new developments up to 2000. Since Cauvin wrote there has been much further work, but this book still deserves a close, respectful reading.

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been a stalwart for my Masters - Cauvin actually excavated Mureybet after van Loon so you know he knows what he is talking about. Familiar scholars pop up during the whole book so you get a good overview of the current research into the area. The Revolution of Symbols is a great turning point for humanity and all of that is laid out clearly with maps, images, and sketches adding to the theories. Also kudos to the translator, Trevor Watkins, a great scholar in his own right, who actually sat down with Cauvin and made sure he was delivering the original message out of French into English. A must have for students and researchers into the Neolithic Near East. I don't usually read uni books cover to cover but this was a delight to delve into, albeit slightly distracting when I have essays to write!

[Taahaa Bilgic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ülkemizde ve Levant’ta uzun yıllar çalışmış olan Fransız arkeolog Jacques Cauvin’in bu eseri, Neolitik devrimi yalnızca ekonomik ya da çevresel nedenlerle açıklamaya çalışan ve bazıları artık geçerliliğini yitirmiş olan klasik teorilere güçlü bir alternatif sunuyor. Cauvin’in psikokültürel dönüşüme yaptığı vurgu, ekonomik çerçeveye sıkı sıkıya bağlı kalmaktan uzaklaşmak açısından önemli ve ufuk açıcı bir dokunuş niteliğinde. Arkeolojik veriye alışkın olmayan benim gibi okuyucuları zorlayıcı olabilir. Ana tezi almak ve genel akışı anlamak kolay ama detay katmanı için daha sonra tekrar dönülebilir.

Kitabın hipotezine gelirsek, daha önceki çevresel ya da iklimsel baskı hipotezlerinin günümüzde bilimsel olarak zayıfladığı açık. Yer kabuğundaki afetlerden kaçışı temel alan açıklamalar ise ilginç olmakla birlikte, bin yıllara yayılmış dönüşümü açıklamakta yetersiz kalıyor. Nüfus baskısı ve marjinal alanlara yerleşim gibi demografik yaklaşımlar önemli katkılar sağlasa da, asıl belirleyici neden olma konusunda eksik kalıyorlar. Bu noktada Cauvin’in sembolik, ideolojik ve teknik dönüşümü merkeze alan yaklaşımı, daha bütüncül ve derinlikli bir açıklama olarak öne çıkıyor.

Tarımın doğuşunu yalnızca bir üretim biçimi değişikliği olarak değil, aynı zamanda zihinsel ve kültürel bir kırılma olarak değerlendirmek gerekiyor: inanç sistemlerinin yeniden biçimlenmesi, imgelerin doğuşu ve insanın doğa karşısındaki yerini yeniden tanımlama çabası. Bitki ve hayvanları evcilleştirerek doğaya biçim verme süreci, eskiden doğanın edilgen parçası olan insanın kendini fail ve hakim olarak merkezde konumlaması ve bir tür “tanrılaşma” hissi. Antropomorfik tanrı imgelerinin yaygınlaşmasıyla paralel ilerlemiş görünüyor.

Diğer taraftan, Cauvin’in sunduğu sembolik dönüşümün coğrafi ve kronolojik olarak ne ölçüde genellenebilir olduğu tartışmalı. Bu mental ve teknik dönüşüm tezi, Neolitik’in diğer bölgelerde yayılma yoluyla gerçekleşmiş olması gerektiği varsayımını beraberinde getiriyor. Oysa Çin, Orta Amerika gibi Mezopotamya’dan oldukça kopuk coğrafyalarda da Neolitik devrim benzer biçimlerde ve bağımsız olarak yaşanmış olmalı. Bu durum, Cauvin’in tezini evrensel bir açıklama modeli olarak sunmak açısından zayıflatmasa da zora sokuyor. Burada belki psikolojiye daha çok girerek arketipler üzerinden bir açıklama ile bu tez devam ettirilebilir. Belki de ettirilmiştir de ben geriden geliyorum, bekleyecekler artık.

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a little misleading since it barely touches upon the religious development of the area. During this period of time worship of the Goddess did start transforming into that of a God, but Cauvin doesn't go into much on it. However, the origins of agriculture he covers in depth as well as the beginning signs of pottery in the Levant. It is a very thorough study of this one area which hopefully others can build upon with larger knowledge of the surrounding cultures.

[Francesca8105 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettura non molto semplice e scorrevole.
Alcuni dati assolutamente illuminanti.

[Yağmur Arda Alkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish he would write a new version, My soul needs it
ignoring the fact that he has been dead almost as long as this book has been out.

[Jane Sparrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Largely over my head but also absolutely thrilling to read.