The interpretations of unusual or special archaeological contexts in the Near Eastern Neolithic that might suggest the appearance of the first forms of religious belief in early sedentary communities have commonly been associated with magic practices or other concepts related to ritual performance or symbolism. The present work proposes alternative perspectives that focus on the term “sacred” as outlined by three renowned anthropologists: Girard, Durkheim and Eliade. This paper also discusses interpretative views on the development of symbolic and ritual forms in early Holocene societies in the Near East. It is argued that the sacred in the Neolithic is an externally manifested prosocial reality that is gradually adopted via mimetic practices. A number of Neolithic archaeological examples will be presented and analysed in light of mimetic theory and other key anthropological concepts. 

中文翻译：

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近东新石器时代的神圣区域？

对近东新石器时代不寻常或特殊考古背景的解释可能表明早期定居社区出现了第一种宗教信仰形式，通常与魔术实践或其他与仪式表演或象征意义有关的概念有关。目前的工作提出了另一种观点，这些观点侧重于三位著名人类学家 Girard、Durkheim 和 Eliade 概述的“神圣”一词。本文还讨论了对近东全新世早期社会象征和仪式形式发展的解释性观点。有人认为，新石器时代的神圣是一种外在表现的亲社会现实，通过模仿实践逐渐被采用。