Journal of Archaeological Studies

Abstract One of the most important subjects regarding the Neolithic period is the change of the subsistence economy in the societies of this period compared to the previous periods. The most direct evidence of subsistence economy within the archaeological contexts are plant and animal remains. Regarding this specific subject, other cultural materials such as pottery, architecture, and tokens are considered indirect evidence. In this article, we studied and analyzed the food consumption of the people living in the Neolithic site of Tepe Khaleseh in the Zanjan Province of northwest Iran (Valipour et al., 2012, 2013) based on direct and indirect evidence obtained from archaeological excavations. Analysis of the archaeobotanical assemblage has also permitted a reconstruction of the subsistence economy at the site and the results presented here, have significantly broadened our understanding of plant and animal management in northern Iran during the Late Neolithic. Tokens, lithic, bone tools, and architectural spaces also have been used in addition to animal bones and plant remains. It seems due to the rich environmental food resources in this region and based on a self-sufficient economy during the three phases of settlement in the late Neolithic period they have evolved from a society with an equal structure in the first stage, to a society with individual ranks in the third stage, therefore, the production organization has evolved from household production to household industries.

Abstract This paper demonatrates an Epistemological approach to the concept of material and meaning in archaeology. The starting point and the basic objective of this article is briefly concentrated on the epistemological analysis of very key concepts of material and meaning in archaeological studies. The interpretations and inferences of archaeological studies in this way have been based on material cultures as “archaeon” and production of meaning as “lost logoi” and “Lost or absent archai”. Archaeology in this respect as the inferential discipline in a very inevitable way is engaged with both material and meaning in their particular sense: Material as Cultural material or any material those could help archaeological interpretations as well as archaeological inferences to production of meaning introduced here as lost and absent meaning.