Ritual in Western Asia at the Prehistoric Societies

The most complex issue in the transformation of human Societies is the question of Ritual. Archaeological excavations do sometimes lead to various forms of artifacts that may have symbolical implications that one premised upon beliefs and various kinds of meaning systems. In some areas of Western Asia at the onset of the Neolithic era in places such as Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, Sheykhi Abad in Kermanshah, and other settlements, one can find artifacts that have symbolic importance and are employed for religious purposes. The author employs an interpretive approach, we examine and analyze possible intentions behind the construction and functions of these symbolic objects.
 
Keywords: Ritual; Neolithic; Totem, Western Asia, Çatalhöyük, Sheykhi Abad
Introduction
The most complex issue in the transformation of human Societies is the question of Ritual. Archaeological excavations do sometimes lead to various forms of artifacts that may have symbolical implications that one premised upon beliefs and various kinds of meaning systems. In some areas of Western Asia at the onset of the Neolithic era in places such as Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, Sheykhi Abad in Kermanshah, and other settlements, one can find artifacts that have symbolic importance and are employed for religious purposes.
 
Materials & methods
During the Neolithic period, symbolism and belief in the Near East intensified concurrently with the economic transformation and the need to domesticate plants and animals that required human cooperation; the symbolism went beyond the making of symbolic objects such as stone and mud sculptures, pendants, ivory beads, and the like and instead the construction of monumental buildings with special functions for the unity between the tribes became popular. A prominent example is the construction of memorial building supported by massive stone pillars in Göbekli Tepe situated in Southeast ​​Anatolia. Klaus Schmidt and his colleagues argue that these buildings were constructed by wandering hunters-gatherers who were working together to protect their grains from wild animals such as gazelles and zebras. This probably led to forming a basic social organization of the various tribes in the area (Kleus-Dieter Linsmeier 2003; cited in Sheikh Biklo Islam 2013).
 
Catalhoyuk Site
The Catalhoyuk is located 32 km southeast of the present-day Konya and 11 km south of Çumra in Turkey.James Mellaart, the British archeologist, excavated this area which belongs to the Neolithic period (6500 to 5700 BC) (Firoozmandi 2006: 62-63).These excavations unearthed forty shrines many of which were decorated with murals, relief carvings, and bulls’ heads. These paintings show men hunting wild bulls, and also people who are dancing and performing burial rites (Firoozmandi 2006: 90).The bulls’ horns and heads in normal sizes were hung on the walls of the shrines in two or three rows (Firoozmandi 2006: 91).
 
Sheikhiabad Site
Sheikhiabad is located in Kartovij, a village in Sahneh in the province of Kermanshah. Excavations of the second trench led to the discovery of two buildings. The second building which is T-shaped and has an area of 2 by 4 meters, has thicker walls than the first building, which is 80 cm in diameter. The building is aligned along a north-south axis. On the south side, the horned head of 4 goats and the horned head of a wild sheep were very carefully implanted, and one of them had ocher flowers rubbed all over the teeth. The discovery of these 4 goats’ horned heads and that of a wild sheep along with the thicker wall had led the archeologists to name this room as the ‘Holy Room.’ Based on the bone piece of the goat or the sheep found on the floor of this building, archeologist construed that the building was constructed circa 7590 BC, which is associated with the newest settlement of Sheikhiabad where nomadic hunters lived (see Mohammadifar et al., 2011).
 
Discussion and Result
Bulls and cows had the same significant place in human life and had always been a symbol of fertility, life, and the source of fertilization and pregnancy (Warner 2007: 506-509). Extremely rich protein sources, vigor and a number of other features allowed this animal to have an important role in human life and keep its position in human life. This animal has always had a ritualistic and important position in the mythologies of various lands including Iran, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia.  
Following Marvin Harris's view of cultural materialism (1966), it has been argued that the economic and ecological rationality of individuals offered more prominence to goats and sheep in the Sheikhiabad site. The archeological record shows that 53.4% of the total bones found in the Sheikhiabad area were bones of goats and sheep; the ratio of goat to sheep was 6 to 1 (Mohammadifar et al. 1390).
The discovery of murals in Catalhoyuk portraying dancing and prancing somehow confirms that rituals were held in this area. Therefore, it makes sense to argue that the inhabitants of these areas guaranteed their livelihood and survival by believing in the totem and their valuable animal. As noted earlier, Frazer is of the idea that the connection between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent. The totem provides man's livelihood and protects the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem by preserving it and considering it sacred and by not killing it indiscriminately. The lack of enough samples in these archeological sites makes it hard to discuss how they tamed the animals; the discoveries of bones of the goats and sheep led archeologists to consider them wild animals (Mohammadifar et al. 2013). Although they were not engaged in the multiplication and propagation of these animals, they had always been concerned to control and prevent indiscriminate hunting.
On the other hand, the transition from the post-Paleolithic to the Neolithic period, and the modification of lifestyle and livelihood from the hunter-gatherer to the agriculture-animal husbandry led to a change in attitude and the subsequent social construction. Archaeologists study both the Paleolithic objects and the ethnography of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies. The ethnographic documents reveal that band was the most common form of political organization among hunter-gatherer societies. The band was a fairly small group of people tied together by close kinship relations (Scupin 2011: 141). The ethnographic studies in contemporary societies help us conclude that humans in the Paleolithic period lived with kinship relations in smaller bands. In the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic, the social structure changes from a band society to a tribal society. The change of human beliefs in the Near East during the Neolithic period concurrent with economic modifications and the need to domesticate plants and animals demanded the cooperation and collaboration of humans. That is why believing in totem led to social solidarity and consequent constructions of memorial buildings. Residents in Sheikhiabad constructed a building with a special and different architecture in the shape of T, and Catalhoyuk’s residents constructed several shrines to augment this solidarity and social organization through congregation of inhabitants believing in the totem of goats, sheep and bulls. As the dancing and prancing murals in Catalhoyuk indicate, these congregations would usually lead to special rituals.