In a series of recent articles, Rosenberg and Nadel have intensively explored the significance of Natufian devices carved in stone—and especially that of the narrow conicalmortars (NCMs; fig. 1, top) “within the social and symbolic realms” (Nadel and Rosenberg 2010:85). In theirmain article (Rosenberg andNadel 2014), the authors proposed that the pierced boulder conical mortars were brought to burial sites to make booming sounds during a mortuary ceremony. In their definition of these mortars, the authors query, “Could they be used to symbolize the female reproductive organs?” and “Could stones [rather small, D.E.] set on edge inside [the NCMs] support this avenue of interpretation?” (Nadel and Lengyel 2009:46). Alternatively, the researchers suggest that the devices may have been relics of hierarchic masonry competitions. It must be noted that while the booming hypothesis and the other suppositions cannot be confirmed, most of the hundreds Natufian NCMs were found at sites in domestic contexts, with no indication of ritual activity (Eitam et al. 2015). Only a dozen NCMs were found in mortuary or ritual contexts.

中文翻译：

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性、声望和繁荣的死亡——或吃面包：西南亚的 Natufian 低水平粮食生产（15,000–11,500 Cal BP）

在最近的一系列文章中，Rosenberg 和 Nadel 深入探讨了雕刻在石头上的 Natufian 装置的重要性，尤其是“在社会和象征领域内”（Nadel 和 Rosenberg）狭窄的圆锥形迫击炮（NCM；图 1，顶部）的重要性2010:85)。在他们的主要文章 (Rosenberg and Nadel 2014) 中，作者提议将穿孔的巨石锥形迫击炮带到墓地，以在太平间仪式上发出隆隆的声音。在他们对这些迫击炮的定义中，作者问道：“它们可以用来象征女性生殖器官吗？” 和“石头 [相当小，DE] 放在 [NCMs] 内部的边缘能支持这种解释途径吗？” (Nadel 和 Lengyel 2009:46)。或者，研究人员认为这些设备可能是分级砌体比赛的遗物。必须指出的是，虽然繁荣假设和其他假设无法得到证实，但数百个 Natufian NCM 中的大多数是在国内环境中的地点发现的，没有任何仪式活动的迹象（Eitam 等人，2015 年）。在太平间或仪式环境中只发现了十几个 NCM。