Pilgrimage and Household in the Ancient Near East

Joy McCorriston author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:14th Mar '11

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Pilgrimage and Household in the Ancient Near East cover

Examines the continuity of traditions over millennia in the Near East by focusing on the traditions of pilgrimage and household.

Joy McCorriston defines the essential characteristics of ancient household and pilgrimage and emphasizes the critical role they played in enabling and developing socioeconomic transactions. Her conclusions tie together broader theoretical implications generated by the study of the two phenomena and offer a new paradigm for archaeological study.In this book, Joy McCorriston examines the continuity of traditions over millennia in the Near East. Tracing the phenomenon of pilgrimage in pre-Islamic Arabia up through the development of the Hajj, she defines its essential characteristics and emphasizes the critical role that pilgrimage plays in enabling and developing socioeconomic transactions. Indeed, the social identities constructed through pilgrimage are key to understanding the long-term endurance of the phenomenon. In the second part of the book, McCorriston turns to the household, using cases of ancient households in Mesopotamian societies, both in the private and public spheres. Her conclusions tie together broader theoretical implications generated by the study of the two phenomena and offer a new paradigm for archaeological study, which has traditionally focused on transitions to the exclusion of continuity of traditions.

"Highly recommended." -Choice
"...this is a very significant book for understanding the longterm history of the Middle East, and it does an important job in forcing prehistorians to look at their work within the context of written history while reminding historians of the deeper roots of Middle Eastern culture." --Current Anthropology

ISBN: 9780521768511

Dimensions: 262mm x 185mm x 20mm

Weight: 780g

312 pages