Multi-sensual analysis of Near Eastern Neolithic communal architecture and the implications for communities

• Main Author: McBride, Alexis Suzanne
• Published: University of Liverpool 2012
• Subjects: 722
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.569259

A comprehensive, systematic analysis of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic non-domestic architecture demonstrates the variability in the way communities were facing the challenges presented by changing life practices. Using a multi-sensual, embodied methodology, the affordances of the structures are examined and demonstrate that the large majority of the structures provided an open, undifferentiated experience for participants. Activities held in these spaces would therefore have provided opportunities for intensely arousing common experiences, enhancing community cohesion. The methodology used in this thesis demonstrates that some of the structures examined were not integrative community spaces, functioning either as industrial, domestic, or other specialised spaces. This highlights the fact that while some PPN communities were constructing non-domestic architecture as a manifestation of the relationships developing in the PPN, other solutions existed.