Egalitarian societies and the earliest Neolithic of Southwest Asia

Abstract

№ Abstract. There is evidence that early Neo- lithic societies in Southwest Asia promoted egalitarian behavior, through mechanisms such as mortuary practices which concealed individual identity, and sharing of food re- sources, for example in communal grana-ries. It has often been assumed that this egal- itarian behavior continues traditional hunter-gatherer practices, designed to resist the potential for individual, or household wealth differentiation permitted by innovative food production and storage practices. However, there is little, or no evidence that the pre- ceding Natufian culture was representative of what we identify as a typical hunter-gatherer society. Equality may have been just one of the innovations developed by early Neolith- ic societies, subsequently replaced in the later Neolithic and the development of a more hierarchical social system.