ISSN 2084–1418
The paper edition of the Anthropology of History Yearbook is the definitive version
2013, No. 2 (5), Genealogies of Culture
Arkadiusz Marciniak
Bulls, Feasts and the Scapegoat: René Girard in Çatalhöyük
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Keywords: Anatolia, Çatalhöyük, Neolithic, religion, mimetic theory
Abstract: The paper discusses the interpretation of representative art from the Neolithic settlement at Çatalhöyük presented by R. Girard and his disciples. To this end, the author applied the mimetic theory referring to the mechanism of scapegoating. The main subject of analysis are the narrative scenes depicting wild animals and numerous figures of people, shown in murals decorating the walls of domestic buildings during the last period of the settlement’s existence. The paper also offers a critical evaluation of the findings in the light of changes in the social and religious sphere during over a thousand years of the settlement’s existence.
About Author:
MARCINIAK ARKADIUSZ – archaeologist, Professor in the Institute of Prehistory at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.