The Neolithic and its origins remain among the most debated topics in archaeology, with extensive literature on the subject. Adding a piece to this extensive narrative is no small feat, given the vast amount of ink already spent on this subject. Trevor Watkins' book, Becoming Neolithic: The Pivot of Human History, succeeds in this challenge by offering an updated and comprehensive, yet succinct, account of the origins of the Neolithic, or, using his own words, the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transition in Southwest Asia. It includes numerous original theoretical insights that reflect the author's scientific background and his personal contributions to the study of early Neolithic societies through cultural evolutionary theory. This book is highly recommended for all researchers working on the Neolithic, as well as those with a broader interest in human history. Although the book is academic in nature, its clear narrative of the evolution of hunter-gatherer societies from the Upper Palaeolithic to the threshold of the first Mesopotamian urban societies makes it a useful and accessible introduction for early-career students.
The first chapter serves as an introductory framework, defining the geographical, physical, demographic, climatic, and environmental backdrop of the book. Watkins emphatically recalls Robert Braidwood's work (Reference Braidwood1960), and the physiographic region of the “hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent” guides the reader throughout the book. The following two chapters extend this introduction by offering complementary perspectives on the domestication processes of plants (Chapter 2) and animals (Chapter 3). The subsequent chapters, from Chapter 4 to Chapter 8, address the historical and archaeological evolution of human societies during what Watkins labels the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic Transformation (ENT). These chapters are heavily archaeological in content, emphasizing excavation data, site architecture and organization, material culture, and funerary evidence. Although recent results from archaeometric, bioarchaeological, or digital studies are also mentioned, “laboratory” data are definitely secondary to the traditional “field” archaeological data. Watkins centres his narrative on the development of communities around specific sites, which are the main protagonists of his book. As such, nearly all major and important Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological excavations in Southwest Asia and Cyprus are discussed, including classic sites like ‘Ain Mallaha, Jericho, Çatalhöyük, and Göbekli Tepe, as well as very recent, and almost unpublished excavations such as Karahantepe (p. 121) or Motza (p. 146).
However, the most original and interesting contributions of this volume are found in Chapters 9 and 10, where Watkins introduces a more personal dimension of the book. Here, he outlines the theoretical foundations and advancements of cultural evolutionary theory and explores how this framework can be applied to the study of Neolithic archaeology. The reading is enjoyable and extremely stimulating, starting with the theoretical positions of Jacques Cauvin and Ian Hodder, but then expanding to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches developed at the intersection of anthropology, biology, neuroscience, and philosophy. From Watkins’ perspective, the Neolithic emerges as the result of a process of cultural complexification, featuring a cumulative expansion of cultural products that have enhanced human physical, cognitive, and symbolic capacities. This chapter offers a vivid and fresh perspective on Neolithic transformations.
Chapter 11 seems to be constructed as a response to the hype generated by the discovery and publication of Göbekli Tepe, touted in popular discourse as the world's first temple. Watkins' discussion of religion is thus meant as a word of caution against proclamations of Göbekli Tepe's role in the rise of religion and biblical interpretations of the site, bringing the conversation about Neolithic religion back to an academic spotlight and leveraging the contributions of the aforementioned cultural evolutionary theory. The final chapter aims to provide a prehistoric perspective and reflection on the present, through the three concepts of Aggregation, Acceleration, and Anthropocene. Although the Anthropocene was very recently (March 2024) rejected by the International Union of Geological Sciences (even if this is most probably a question that matters mostly to geologists) (Rull, Reference Rull2018), it is undeniable that many of the economic, social, demographic, and environmental transformations that currently raise alarm have their roots in the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic Transformation.
In a book that aims to concisely cover such a vast topic, it is obvious that there are some gaps, or aspects that would have deserved more extensive discussion. In my personal opinion, and perhaps due to my own research interests, two of these can be highlighted. Watkins' theoretical proposal aims to surpass interpretations of the Neolithic as a phenomenon primarily based on the impact of climatic aspects as well as palaeodemographic and palaeoeconomic processes. Throughout the book, Watkins dismisses any form of environmental determinism, consistently emphasizing that the major climatic crises of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, although significant, were not decisive in driving major cultural transformations, thus distancing himself from previous proposals (Hillman et al., Reference Hillman, Hedges, Moore, Colledge and Pettitt2001; Weninger et al., Reference Weninger, Clare, Gerritsen, Horejs, Krauß, Linstädter, Özbal and Rohling2014 among others). Similarly, Watkins argues that explanations based on a processualist approach (Binford, Reference Binford, Binford and Binford1968; Flannery, Reference Flannery, Ucko and Dimbleby1969) that focused on the imbalance between population growth and resource availability as one of the main drivers of Neolithic transformations (p. 162) are insufficient. However, explanations aligned with this line of thought recur within the book. On one hand, the occupation of Cyprus starting from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (which Watkins defines as Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic) is explained as a response to demographic pressure on the continent that pushed hunter-farmer communities to expand elsewhere (p. 123). This explanation, however, appears at least limited, in light of the fact that the history of the colonization of Cyprus goes much further back in time, as the author himself describes (p. 95). Recent excavations at the site of Pakhtomena indicate an occupation of the island even before the site of Aetokremnos, around 11,000 cal bc (Briois et al., Reference Briois, Vigne, Hadad, Mazzucco, Mylona, Rousou, Tombret and Zazzo2023), pushing back the earliest evidence of human presence on the island. The current picture, although still based on partial archaeological data and rather discontinuous over time, seems to indicate that the human occupation of Cyprus, and the construction of new niches, is a more complex process than a reaction to overpopulation on the continent (p. 123 and p. 142). Why should not the evidence of repeated colonization of the island be interpreted within a broader framework of cultural niche construction (Vigne et al., Reference Vigne, Cucchi, Rousou, Bailon, Carrère, Devillers, Douché, Gourichon, Hadjikoumis, Mylona, Papayianni, Parès, Tengberg, Zazzo, Guilaine and Briois2023) and network expansion, rather than merely as responses to population pressure? This perspective is particularly relevant considering the hypothesis that the movements of individuals, and eventually entire communities, likely represented a common phenomenon, not only off the mainland but also within it. Mobility and migration might have been the norm, serving as fundamental elements for the emergence and success of the Neolithic (Ibáñez et al., Reference Ibáñez, González-Urquijo, Teira-Mayolini and Lazuén2018; Santana et al., Reference Santana, Millard, Ibáñez-Estevez, Bocquentin, Nowell, Peterkin, Macpherson, Muñiz, Anton, Alrousan and Kafafi2021).
Similarly, Watkins accounts for the end of the mega-sites phenomenon and their collapse during the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B by recalling the hypothesis of Rollesfon & Pine (2009), which cites excessive demographic pressure and environmental imbalance as the main causes (p. 138). However, there are other perspectives, of which Watkins is certainly aware, but which receive little attention in the volume. These perspectives integrate demographic and economic factors with a more explicitly cultural and social framework to explain the fragmentation of the LPPNB mega-sites (Kuijt, Reference Kuijt2000; Gebel, Reference Gebel and Benz2010). His emphasis on population pressure as a trigger for migratory phenomena or collapse events seems to me a slight contradiction to the picture that he presents in Chapter 10, which provides ample evidence of how the factors involved in the transformations of the ENT are deeply rooted in cultural practices.
In conclusion, this book offers a compelling read that merits multiple consultations. With each engagement, previously unnoticed ideas and details are likely to surface, deepening the reader's understanding. The author's background and theoretical expertise significantly enhance the debates on the origins of the Neolithic and its importance in human history.
