Shamanism at the transition from foraging to farming in Southwest Asia: sacra, ritual, and performance at Neolithic WF16 (southern Jordan)
Shamanism, a ritual practice found worldwide in hunter-gatherer and farming societies, may explain unusual archaeological finds at the early Neolithic settlement WF16 in southern Jordan. Large quantities of bird bones, zoomorphic artifacts, and architectural features at the site are most compellingly interpreted as evidence of shamanic thought and practice permeating daily life. The paper argues that shamanism played a key role in the Early Holocene transition from hunting and gathering to farming in Southwest Asia by providing a means to cope with uncertainty from climate and economic change.