ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the aspects of the Mother Goddess as an archetype. The phrase 'Neolithic Revolution', which was Childe's invention, is still widely used by archaeologists, even though some argue that the development of agriculture should be seen as a gradual evolutionary process rather than a sudden cataclysm. The first major challenge to Childe's Oasis Theory came from archaeologists Robert and Linda Braidwood of the University of Chicago, who excavated the Neolithic site of Jarmo in Iraq during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Braidwood's were searching for evidence of the first food-producing societies. One of the new theory's implications, the Braidwood's believed, was that environmental or climatic explanations for the Neolithic Revolution were not sufficient in and of themselves, particularly since agriculture had apparently arisen independently in several parts of the world, such as China and the America. The key ingredient missing in the older recipes for the Neolithic Revolution, Binford argued, was population pressure.
