Book Series LEMA, vol. 5

Rituals, Memory, and Societal Dynamics: Contributions to Social Archaeology

A Collection of Essays in Memory of Sharon Zuckerman

Gideon Shelach-Lavi, Joseph Maran, Uri Davidovich (eds)

  • Pages: approx. 301 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:37 b/w, 33 col., 26 tables b/w.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2025


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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-61292-8
  • Paperback
  • Forthcoming (Jul/25)

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  • € 140,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE


The book demonstrates how fundamental social themes can be addressed through archaeological research.

Summary

Thanks largely to the introduction of new methods of recovery and analysis, archaeology is increasingly treated as a science. Yet, it should continue to ask questions that are founded in the humanities. This is especially true of social archaeology, which forms the core of this volume. Being based on the notion that ‘the social’ permeates all areas of life, the chapters gathered here give priority to archaeological data and contexts, which in turn form the prerequisite for analyzing how, at particular times and places, people negotiated or reaffirmed the society around them. Case studies from the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean sit alongside selected comparative cases from other parts of the world and assess issues such as the development of cultural characteristics of societies, societal continuity and collapse, religious beliefs and rituals, and the role of social memory, as well as interactions within and between societies. The volume is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and friend, Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, who embraced the quest for ‘the social’ throughout her career.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

1. Introduction


Gideon Shelach-Lavi, Joseph Maran, and Uri Davidovich

2. The Good Old Days? Collapse and the Forgetting of the Mycenaean Palatial Past
Guy D. Middleton

I. Collapse and Social Memory

3. Was There an Extraordinary Crisis in Thirteeenth and Twelfth Century BCE Southern Levant?
Igor Kreimerman

4. The Mycenae Megaron Ruin as a Possible Focus of Social Memory
Joseph Maran

5. ‘Remnants of the City’s Distant and Glorious Past’. Conspicuous Production of Basalt Objects at Bronze Age Hazor
Jennie Ebeling

II. Resilience, Transformation and Social Dynamics

6. Dealing with Disaster(s)? Minoan Resilience in the Wake of the Santorini Eruption
Jan Driessen and Quentin Letesson

7. Innovation and Tradition in Livestock Culling. A Comparative Study of North Chinese and South Levantine Sites
Yitzchak Jaffe and Nimrod Marom

8. Crisis and Transformation: Late Bronze Age Hazor and its Hinterland as a Test Case
Shlomit Bechar and Ido Wachtel

9. Defining Identities in Middle and Late Bronze Age Canaan. Attempting a Non-Essentialist Approach
Aren M. Maeir and Gunnar Lehmann

10. Characterizing the Chalcoferric Period in the Southern Levant (c. 1100–900 BCE)
Assaf Yasur-Landau

III. Social Aspects of Ritual and Religious Practices

11. Uncovering Household Rituals. Analysing Underfloor Caching of Artefacts at Early Sedentary Villages in North China
Gideon Shelach-Lavi and Ofer Marder

12. Rethinking Social Relations During the Dawenkou Period
Anne P. Underhill 
  
13. Concepts of and Approaches to Bronze Age ‘Religion’ in the Southern Levant
Matthew Susnow

14. How Should We Read Ancient Mesopotamian Ritual Texts?
Uri Gabbay

IV. Possibilities and Limits of Archaeological Research

15. Archaeology, A Socio-Critical Historical Science — An Essay
Marlies Heinz