215 Imagery and Social Relationships Chapter 16 Imagery and Social Relationships: Shi�ing Identity and Ambiguity in the Neolithic these communities as individuals and members of collective groups. In this essay we address a single broad descriptive question: how did the use of imagery change through the Neolithic? In this paper we limit our analysis to published objects from the Pre-Po�ery Neolithic of the southern Levant, restricting the geographical and temporal scope in order to focus on the use of figural representation in a defined space and time. Moving beyond research structured by the assumption of a pan- Near Eastern Neolithic, we look at regional pa�erns of use and focus on three-dimensional representations of humans, animals or geometric shapes in the form of fig- urines, statues, masks, or human skulls from southern Levantine Pre-Po�ery Neolithic sites (Fig. 16.1). In this paper we make several arguments: 1) we believe that arguments for a dominance of female imagery in the Pre-Po�ery Neolithic is overstated, not supported by archaeological data, and ignores the presence of male imagery and zoomorphic figurines; 2) we argue that in many cases the focus among researchers for identifying male/female figurines is misplaced and not productive. In many ways the critical issue is not whether a figurine is male or female, rather the relevant question is why did Neolithic groups deliberately choose to not to repre- sent sexually marked identity in imagery? 3) In relation to our second point, we argue that increased a�ention needs to be directed to documenting and understand- ing shi�ing practices in imagery through time, and how these might be related to other social phenomena. We argue that the a�ention to context forces us to change research questions about figurine function and signifi- cance, contextualizing peoples’ manufacture, use, and discard of these objects within the social, economic, and political frameworks of their communities. Figurines, bodies and identity Analysis and interpretation of the social and symbolic Ian Kuijt & Meredith S. Chesson From the perspective of many archaeologists, as well as the general public, one of the most interesting aspects of the ancient Near Eastern Neolithic is the assemblage of exotic anthropomorphic statues, ani- mal and human figurines, and plastered and painted human skulls. Starting at around 11,500 years ago, the Neolithic of the Near East encompassed some of the most profound and fundamental innovations in human lifeways in our species’ history, including the establishment of the earliest sedentary villages in the world founded on food-producing communities relying on wild and domesticated plants and animals for subsistence. As part of the tremendous changes in lifeways, with a move from a mobile hunting and gathering lifestyle to one of year-round sedentism and food production of cereals, we witness the shi�ing use of imagery, both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic, in concert with society’s struggle to control and con- tain new structures of economy, social organization, and symbolism. Over a three-thousand-year period of what is now known as the Pre-Po�ery Neolithic (PPN), people and community practices in imagery changed in what they chose to, and chose not to illustrate in their daily lives. This includes shi�ing interests in and use of human and animal imagery, a focus on the natural and stylized representation of the face and body, and eventually, the almost total disappearance of earlier practices with the emergence of large agricultural villages. Interestingly, the nature and scale of manufacture and use of figural represen- tations of humans, animals, and geometric shapes shi� in these communities over time, o�en changing with documented transitions in economic and social practices. Our a�ention, then, rests on understanding how we can explore the relationships between social and economic behavioural changes and figurine use in these communities, and more specifically, how the representation of human forms may reflect changing understandings of what it meant for people to live in