Dr. Marion Benz
Chairwoman I of ex oriente

Co-director of the Ba`ja Household and Death Project

EMail: marion.benz@fu-berlin.de

Curriculum vitae

Born in 1970

Research foci

• Social and ideological changes at the transition from hunter-gatherers to farming communities
• Ethnoarchaeology
• Prehistoric Art
• Social Neuroscience

Organisation of international Conferences

• International Workshop at the 9th, ICAANE Basel 2014: "Neolithic Corporate Identities"; in cooperation with Trevor Watkins and Hans Georg K. Gebel; held at the University of Basel, Switzerland http://9icaane.unibas.ch/workshops.html#theme1
• International Conference: "Segregation and Construction of Social Identities at the Transition from Foraging to Farming" 29.-31.1.2009, held at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
  http://www.vorderasien.uni-freiburg.de/sign_conf.html
• International Bell Beaker Conference, 18.-20.4.1997; in cooperation with S. van Willigen, University of Freiburg; held at Feldberg, Germany.

Monographies and (Co-)Editorship

• Benz M., Watkins T. and Gebel H.G.K. (eds.), Neolithic Corporate Identities. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence and Environment 20 (2017). Berlin: ex oriente. in press.
• Benz M. and Bauer J. (guest-editors), The Symbolic Construction of Community. Neo-Lithics Special Issue. 13/2, 2013.
• Benz M. (ed.), The Principle of Sharing. Segregation and Construction of Social Identities at the Transition from Foraging to Farming. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 14 (2010). Berlin: ex oriente.
• Benz M. and Maise C. Archäologie. Theiss Wissen Kompakt (2006). Stuttgart: Theiss.
• Benz M. Die Neolithisierung im Vorderen Orient. Theorien, archäologische Daten und ein ethnologisches Modell. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 7 (2000). Berlin: ex oriente.
• Benz M. and van Willigen S. (eds.), Some New Approaches to The Bell Beaker ‚Phenomenon' Lost Paradise…?. Proceedings of the 2nd Meeting of the Association Archéologie et Gobelets. Feldberg 18-20. April 1997. British Archaeological Reports, international series 690 (1998). Oxford: Hadrian Books.
• PPND open access Plattform for the Publication of Neolithic Radiocarbon Dates in cooperation with ex.oriente e.V. http:/ /www.exoriente.org/associated_projects/ppnd.php. online since March 2010.

Selected Articles

• Benz M., Gresky J., Štefanisko D., Alarashi H., Knipper C., Purschwitz C., Bauer J. and Gebel H.G.K. Burying power: New insights into incipient leadership in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic from an outstanding burial at Ba`ja, southern Jordan. PLoS ONE 14(8), 2019:e0221171. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221171
• Gebel H.G.K., Benz M., Purschwitz C., Alarashi H., Bauer J., Gresky J., Heidkamp B., Abuhelaleh B., Miškolciová L., Keßeler A., Kubíková B., Štefanisko D., Strauss M. and Wellbrock K. Household and death, 2: Preliminary results of the 12th season (2018) at late PPNB Ba`ja, southern Jordan. Neo-Lithics 19:20-45.
• Benz M. Changing medialities. Symbols of Neolithic corporate identities. In: M. Benz, H.G.K. Gebel and T. Watkins (eds.), Neolithic Corporate Identities. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 20 (2017). Berlin: ex oriente. in press
• Benz M. Making the invisible visible. In: L.B. Christensen and J.T. Jensen (eds.), Religion and Material Culture I: Defining Religion, Religious Elements and Cultural Memory on the Basis of Objects, Architecture and Space. (2017) in press. Turnhout: Brepolt Publishers.
• Benz M., Alt K.W., Erdal Y.S., Şahin F.S., Özkaya V. Re-presenting the past. Evidence from daily practices and rituals at Körtik Tepe. In: I. Hodder (ed.), Religion, History and Place in the Origin of Settled Life. in press. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
• Benz M., Willmy A.A.J., Doğan F., Şahin F.S., Özkaya V. A burnt pit house, large scale roasting, and enigmatic Epipaleolithic structures at Körtik Tepe, Southeastern Turkey. Neo-Lithics 1/17: 3-12.
• Gebel H.G.K., Benz M., Purschwitz C., et al. Household and death: preliminary results of the 11th season (2016) at late PPNB Ba'ja, southern Jordan. Neo-Lithics 1/17: 18-36.
• Rössner C., Deckers K., Benz M., V. Özkaya, S. Riehl. Subsistence strategies and vegetation development at Aceramic Neolithic Körtik Tepe, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany· October 2017. DOI: 10.1007/s00334-017-0641-z
• Benz M., Erdal Y.S., Şahin F.S., Özkaya V. and Alt K.W. The equality of inequality. Social differentiation among the hunter-fisher-gatherer community of Körtik Tepe, Southeastern Turkey. In: H. Meller, H.P. Hahn, and R. Rich (eds.), Rich and Poor – Competing for Resources in Prehistory. Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 13 (2016) 147-164. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen Anhalt – Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle.
• Benz M. Feasting – Ein vielschichtiges Konzept und dennoch kein Passepartout. Gedanken zu B. Haydens "The Power of Feasts". Germania 93, 2015: 225-232.
• Benz M. and Bauer J. On Scorpions, Birds, and Snakes – Evidence for Shamanism in Northern Mesopotamia during the Early Holocene. Journal of Ritual Studies 29, 2, 2015: 1-23.
• Benz M., Deckers K., Rössner C., Alexandrovsky A., Pustovoytov et al. Prelude to village life. Environmental data and building traditions of the Epipalaeolithic settlement at Körtik Tepe, Southeast Turkey. Paléorient 41, 2, 2015: 9-30.
• Alt K.W., Benz M., Vach W., Simmons T. and Goring-Morris N.A. Insights into the social structure of the PPNB site of Kfar HaHoresh, Israel, based on dental remains. PLoS ONE 10(9), 2015: e0134528.
• Schreiber F., Coşkun A., Benz M., Alt K.W., Özkaya V. et al. Multilayer floors in the early Holocene houses at Körtik Tepe – an example from House Y98. Neo-Lithics 2/14: 13-22.
• Alt* K.W., Benz* M. Müller W., Berner M.E., Schultz M. et al. Earliest Evidence for Social Endogamy in the 9,000-Year-Old-Population of Basta, Jordan. PLoS ONE 8(6), 2013: e65649. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065649 * both authors contributed equally.
• Benz M. and Bauer. J. Symbols of Power, Symbols of Crises? A Psycho-Social Approach to Early Neolithic Symbol Systems. In: ebd. (guest-eds.), The Symbolic Construction of Community. Neo-Lithics Special Issue 2/13: 11-24.
• Bauer J. and Benz M. Neurobiology meets Archaeology. The Social Challenges of the Neolithic Processes. In: ebd. (guest-eds.), The Symbolic Construction of Community. Neo-Lithics Special Issue 2/13: 65-69.
• Benz M., Coşkun A., Rössner C., Deckers K., Riehl S., Alt K.W. and Özkaya V. First evidence of an Epipalaeolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement at Körtik Tepe. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 34, 2012: 65-78.
• Benz M. 'Little poor babies' – Creation of history through death at the transition from foraging to farming. In: T. L. Kienlin and A. Zimmermann (eds.), Beyond Elites. Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 215 (2012) 169-182. Bonn: Habelt.
• Benz M., Coşkun A., Hajdas I., Deckers K., Riehl S., Alt K.W., Weninger B. and Özkaya V. Methodological implications of new radiocarbon dates from the early Holocene site of Körtik Tepe, Southeast Anatolia. Radiocarbon 54, 3-4, 2012: 291-304.
• Riehl S., Benz M., Conard N.J., Darabi H., Deckers K., Fazeli Nashli H., Zeidi-Kulehparcheh M. Plant use in three Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of the northern and eastern Fertile Crescent: a preliminary report. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 2011. DOI 10.1007/s00334-011-0318-y.
• Benz M. The principle of sharing – an introduction; Beyond death - the construction of social identities at the transition from foraging to farming. In: M. Benz (ed.), The Principle of Sharing. Segregation and Construction of Social Identities at the Transition from Foraging to Farming. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 14 (2010): 1-18; 249-276. Berlin: ex oriente.
• Benz M. Changing landscapes, changing societies. In: W. Finlayson and G. Warren (eds.), Landscapes in Transition. Levant Supplementary Series 8 (2010): 77-85. London: CBRL.
• Coşkun A., Benz M., Erdal Y.S., Koruyucu M.M., Deckers K. et al. Living by the Water – Boon and Bane for the People of Körtik Tepe. Neo-Lithics 2/10: 15-24.
• Benz M. Zur Bedeutung von Festen während der Neolithisierung im Vorderen Orient. Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift 47, 2006: 430-462.
• Benz M. and Gramsch A. Zur sozio-politischen Bedeutung von Festen. Eine Einführung anhand von Beispielen aus dem Alten Orient und Europa. Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift 47, 2006: 417-437.
• Benz M. 2004. The emic view: Social Questions of the Neolithisation of the Near East. Neo-Lithics 1/04: 27-28.