PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, DOMESTIC AND CORPORATE - THE EMERGENCE OF THE SOUTHWEST ASIAN VILLAGE

Despite extensive research on the transition from semimobile hunters a nd gatherers to sedentary, food-producing villagers in Southwest Asia, associated changes in community organization remain unexplored. Undou btedly new social and economic mechanisms were necessary to facilitate the success of these larger permanent settlements. The emergence of n ovel intrasite organizational patterns can be elucidated in the archae ological record through analysis of the built environment. This paper presents an interpretation of temporal transformations in community or ganization utilizing the results from the detailed analysis of Beidha, one of the most extensively excavated early Neolithic villages in Sou thwest Asia. It is proposed that the emergence of Neolithic farming vi llages in Southwest Asia was characterized by two parallel and interre lated organizational trends: a more restricted social network for shar ing production and consumption activities, and the development of more formal and institutionalized mechanisms for integrating the community as a whole.