Marc Verhoeven
Biographic Data
| ID | 3623006 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marc Verhoeven |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marc |
| FAMILY NAME | Verhoeven |
| SIGNATURE | VERHOEVEN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Tokyo |
| ORCID | 0009-0003-8100-9372 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 178 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Relationality, Immanence, Hierarchy
This paper deals with symbolic and ontological human–animal relationships at the Early Neolithic (PPNA) site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. Here a series of megalithic round stone buildings, built by hunter-gatherers, were embellished by large stone pillars with depictions of animals, particularly predators. On the basis of an analysis of the pillar iconography and of recent anthropological and archaeological insights about alterity and …
Other Times, Other Worlds
This article is an introduction to the emerging sub-discipline of the archaeology of ritual and religion. It addresses the question of how archaeologists can approach these fields: what are the challenges and opportunities? Using theory and methodology, ritual and religion are explored in the archaeological record by means of so-called framing, and an interpretation is attempted through analogy and 'ethos'. Selected Neolithic sites from the Near …
The Birth of a Concept and the Origins of the Neolithic
Obviously, in the Near East and elsewhere the Neolithic was a period of very important developments, first and foremost the establishment of agriculture and sedentism. However, many of its defining features, such as village life, cultivation of plants and resource management, were already present in the Palaeolithic. This should make us aware of the potential arbitrariness of current typo-chronological categories such as ‘ the Neolithic’. More fu…
Archaeology and Anthropology
Losing One's Head in the Neolithic
This report deals with the problem of interpreting and understanding anthropomorphic figurines without heads, which are a common feature at Neolithic sites in the Levant. As an example, headless human figurines from Tell Sabi Abyad I are discussed. The large majority of these statuettes were associated with sealings and tokens, probably indicating that they functioned in administrative contexts related to storage and exchange. The removal of the …
Tell Sabi Abyad II - A Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Village in Northern Syria
Beyond Boundaries
Transformations of society
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) and the Pottery Neolithic (PN) in the Levant, Syria and South-East Anatolia are compared with regard to ritual practice and symbolism. With regard to ritual, it is argued that instead of the suggested structuring principles in the PPNB of communality, dominant symbolism, vitality and people-animal linkage, PN rituals were marked by what has been called domesticity. In the apparent absence of a clear social hiera…
Ritual and Ideology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Levant and Southeast Anatolia
The study of ritual is an important and indeed essential part of prehistoric archaeology, and is reported at several early Neolithic sites in the Levant and Anatolia. In this study, the evidence for ritual at five Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites ('Ain Ghazal, Kfar HaHoresh, Nevali Çori, Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe) is compared. This comparison serves as the basis for an interpretation which focuses on the ideology of PPNB ritual rather than on its soci…
Structure, diversity and context in neolithic ritual practice
I am most grateful for the critical, yet on the whole positive and inspiring reactions of Stuart Campbell and Jonathan Last, who offer ample opportunities for an archaeological dialogue. Besides specific questions, they raise a number of important issues which have a general theoretical significance. Last, moreover, presents some new and most interesting data on horned objects from Çatalhöyük West, whereas Campbell comes up with some additional a…
Death, fire and abandonment
This article offers an interpretation of the structure and meaning of a mortuary ritual at Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria. Remains of this funeral have been uncovered in the 'Burnt Village', a late neolithic settlement largely destroyed by fire. The possibly intentional and ritual burning of the settlement is related to the mortuary ritual; it is suggested that here we have evidence for an extended 'death ritual' ending, but also transforming, human an…
Traces and spaces
In this article the results of a microwear analysis of flint tools from Late Neolithic levels of occupation (dated at ca. 6 000-5 000 ВС) in Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria are presented. This analysis has been carried out as part of a spatial analysis of the so-called Burnt Village, one of the Neolithic settlements excavated at the tell. Evidence for plant-processing, wood-processing, butchering, skin-processing, plant and animal-processing, b…
An Image of Complexity
The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in the upper Balikh valley of northern Syria is the focal point of a regionally oriented research project investigating the socioeconomic organization of later Neolithic society in the region. Recent excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad have brought to light a well-preserved settlement dating from the late sixth millennium B. C. and heavily affected by a violent fire, the so-called Burnt Village. The village consists of rect…
Ritual and Ideology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Levant and Southeast Anatolia
The study of ritual is an important and indeed essential part of prehistoric archaeology, and is reported at several early Neolithic sites in the Levant and Anatolia. In this study, the evidence for ritual at five Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites ('Ain Ghazal, Kfar HaHoresh, Nevali Çori, Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe) is compared. This comparison serves as the basis for an interpretation which focuses on the ideology of PPNB ritual rather than on its soci…
Beyond Boundaries
Transformations of society
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) and the Pottery Neolithic (PN) in the Levant, Syria and South-East Anatolia are compared with regard to ritual practice and symbolism. With regard to ritual, it is argued that instead of the suggested structuring principles in the PPNB of communality, dominant symbolism, vitality and people-animal linkage, PN rituals were marked by what has been called domesticity. In the apparent absence of a clear social hiera…
An Image of Complexity
The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in the upper Balikh valley of northern Syria is the focal point of a regionally oriented research project investigating the socioeconomic organization of later Neolithic society in the region. Recent excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad have brought to light a well-preserved settlement dating from the late sixth millennium B. C. and heavily affected by a violent fire, the so-called Burnt Village. The village consists of rect…
Death, fire and abandonment
This article offers an interpretation of the structure and meaning of a mortuary ritual at Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria. Remains of this funeral have been uncovered in the 'Burnt Village', a late neolithic settlement largely destroyed by fire. The possibly intentional and ritual burning of the settlement is related to the mortuary ritual; it is suggested that here we have evidence for an extended 'death ritual' ending, but also transforming, human an…
The Birth of a Concept and the Origins of the Neolithic
Obviously, in the Near East and elsewhere the Neolithic was a period of very important developments, first and foremost the establishment of agriculture and sedentism. However, many of its defining features, such as village life, cultivation of plants and resource management, were already present in the Palaeolithic. This should make us aware of the potential arbitrariness of current typo-chronological categories such as ‘ the Neolithic’. More fu…
Traces and spaces
In this article the results of a microwear analysis of flint tools from Late Neolithic levels of occupation (dated at ca. 6 000-5 000 ВС) in Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria are presented. This analysis has been carried out as part of a spatial analysis of the so-called Burnt Village, one of the Neolithic settlements excavated at the tell. Evidence for plant-processing, wood-processing, butchering, skin-processing, plant and animal-processing, b…
Relationality, Immanence, Hierarchy
This paper deals with symbolic and ontological human–animal relationships at the Early Neolithic (PPNA) site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. Here a series of megalithic round stone buildings, built by hunter-gatherers, were embellished by large stone pillars with depictions of animals, particularly predators. On the basis of an analysis of the pillar iconography and of recent anthropological and archaeological insights about alterity and …
Other Times, Other Worlds
This article is an introduction to the emerging sub-discipline of the archaeology of ritual and religion. It addresses the question of how archaeologists can approach these fields: what are the challenges and opportunities? Using theory and methodology, ritual and religion are explored in the archaeological record by means of so-called framing, and an interpretation is attempted through analogy and 'ethos'. Selected Neolithic sites from the Near …
An Image of Complexity
The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in the upper Balikh valley of northern Syria is the focal point of a regionally oriented research project investigating the socioeconomic organization of later Neolithic society in the region. Recent excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad have brought to light a well-preserved settlement dating from the late sixth millennium B. C. and heavily affected by a violent fire, the so-called Burnt Village. The village consists of rect…
Traces and spaces
In this article the results of a microwear analysis of flint tools from Late Neolithic levels of occupation (dated at ca. 6 000-5 000 ВС) in Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria are presented. This analysis has been carried out as part of a spatial analysis of the so-called Burnt Village, one of the Neolithic settlements excavated at the tell. Evidence for plant-processing, wood-processing, butchering, skin-processing, plant and animal-processing, b…
Structure, diversity and context in neolithic ritual practice
I am most grateful for the critical, yet on the whole positive and inspiring reactions of Stuart Campbell and Jonathan Last, who offer ample opportunities for an archaeological dialogue. Besides specific questions, they raise a number of important issues which have a general theoretical significance. Last, moreover, presents some new and most interesting data on horned objects from Çatalhöyük West, whereas Campbell comes up with some additional a…
Death, fire and abandonment
This article offers an interpretation of the structure and meaning of a mortuary ritual at Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria. Remains of this funeral have been uncovered in the 'Burnt Village', a late neolithic settlement largely destroyed by fire. The possibly intentional and ritual burning of the settlement is related to the mortuary ritual; it is suggested that here we have evidence for an extended 'death ritual' ending, but also transforming, human an…
Transformations of society
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) and the Pottery Neolithic (PN) in the Levant, Syria and South-East Anatolia are compared with regard to ritual practice and symbolism. With regard to ritual, it is argued that instead of the suggested structuring principles in the PPNB of communality, dominant symbolism, vitality and people-animal linkage, PN rituals were marked by what has been called domesticity. In the apparent absence of a clear social hiera…
Ritual and Ideology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Levant and Southeast Anatolia
The study of ritual is an important and indeed essential part of prehistoric archaeology, and is reported at several early Neolithic sites in the Levant and Anatolia. In this study, the evidence for ritual at five Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites ('Ain Ghazal, Kfar HaHoresh, Nevali Çori, Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe) is compared. This comparison serves as the basis for an interpretation which focuses on the ideology of PPNB ritual rather than on its soci…
Tell Sabi Abyad II - A Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Village in Northern Syria
Beyond Boundaries
Losing One's Head in the Neolithic
This report deals with the problem of interpreting and understanding anthropomorphic figurines without heads, which are a common feature at Neolithic sites in the Levant. As an example, headless human figurines from Tell Sabi Abyad I are discussed. The large majority of these statuettes were associated with sealings and tokens, probably indicating that they functioned in administrative contexts related to storage and exchange. The removal of the …
Archaeology and Anthropology
The Birth of a Concept and the Origins of the Neolithic
Obviously, in the Near East and elsewhere the Neolithic was a period of very important developments, first and foremost the establishment of agriculture and sedentism. However, many of its defining features, such as village life, cultivation of plants and resource management, were already present in the Palaeolithic. This should make us aware of the potential arbitrariness of current typo-chronological categories such as ‘ the Neolithic’. More fu…
Other Times, Other Worlds
This article is an introduction to the emerging sub-discipline of the archaeology of ritual and religion. It addresses the question of how archaeologists can approach these fields: what are the challenges and opportunities? Using theory and methodology, ritual and religion are explored in the archaeological record by means of so-called framing, and an interpretation is attempted through analogy and 'ethos'. Selected Neolithic sites from the Near …
Relationality, Immanence, Hierarchy
This paper deals with symbolic and ontological human–animal relationships at the Early Neolithic (PPNA) site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. Here a series of megalithic round stone buildings, built by hunter-gatherers, were embellished by large stone pillars with depictions of animals, particularly predators. On the basis of an analysis of the pillar iconography and of recent anthropological and archaeological insights about alterity and …
Archaeology (12 works) · History (12 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Ancient Near East History (10 works) · Geography (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Anthropology (6 works) · History (6 works) · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology (5 works)