IFISC Seminar on Wednesday Sep 14, 2022 at 14:30 Place: IFISC Seminar Room Title: Regional Interaction Networks at the origin of the Neolithic in the Near East Speaker: Juan José Ibáñez and Fiona Pichon, Institución Milá y Fontanals de investigación en Humanidades (IMF), CSIC (Barcelona) Abstract: <p>The Neolithic is the period of Prehistory when villages of farming communities appeared. The transition from nomadic hunter gatherer communities to sedentary farming societies is one of the crucial periods in human history. This shift took place, for the first time, in the Fertile Crescent, between 14,000 and 9,000 years ago. Characterizing the regional cultural interactions is a key element for understanding how the transition to the Neolithic was possible. These interactions can be tracked through the analysis of obsidian trade from SE Anatolia to the rest of the Fertile Crescent. Our previous studies demonstrated that obsidian was transferred through complex networks linking distant Neolithic villages. Using our database of obsidian quantities in archaeological sites, we would like to characterize the interaction networks through time. Modelling the transfer of innovations though the previously characterized networks of interaction and comparing modelling results with the actual rhythms of expansion of innovations in the past could help us to understand how the Neolithic emerged. In fact, we think that the Neolithic could be explain as an emergent phenomenon of a growing network of interaction.<br /> <br /> Presential seminar, with parallel Zoom stream: https://zoom.us/j/98286706234?pwd=bm1JUFVYcTJkaVl1VU55L0FiWDRIUT09</p>; Url event:https://ifisc.uib-csic.es/en/events/seminars/regional-interaction-networks-a...