Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society: Vital Matters

This book tackles the topic of religion, a broad subject exciting renewed interest across the social and historical sciences. The volume is tightly focused on the early farming village of Çatalhöyük, which has generated much interest both within and outside of archaeology, especially for its contributions to the understanding of early religion. The volume discusses contemporary themes such as materiality, animism, object vitality, and material dimensions of spirituality while at the same time exploring broad evolutionary changes in the ways in which religion has influenced society. The volume results from a unique collaboration between an archaeological team and a range of specialists in ritual and religion.Argues a new theory of the emergence of religion in Çatalhöyük and the Middle East, updating the theory and definition of religion presented in Hodder's Religion in the Emergence of Civilization Results from a unique collaboration between archaeologists excavating a site and philosophers, anthropologists and religious scholars, providing a template for new directions in archaeological research