The rites of spring: a cognitive analysis of ritual activity in the agricultural transition in south-west asia and north-western europe

Thesis

What cognitive and cultural mechanisms facilitated the agricultural transition? In this thesis, I evaluated the hypothesis that ritual action involving large groups of people meeting regularly created a significant sense of collective purpose to bring about the social cohesion necessary for agriculture. I test this hypothesis against the archaeological record in two distinct regions: south west Asia and north-western Europe. Following Whitehouse’s (2000) Modes of Religiosity theory, I show that the agricultural transition in both regions is connected with a shift from an imagistic to an increasingly doctrinal mode of religious behaviour. This result is important because it brings together insights from the prehistoric archaeology and cognitive anthropology to generate new knowledge about the agricultural transition.

Authors: Gantley, M

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Prehistoric Ritual Practices; Cognitive Anthropology; Cognitive Archaeology; Generalized Linear Modelling; Modes of Religiosity; Neolithic Transition
• Subjects: Cognitive Archaeology of the Neolithic Transition