Neolithisation in the Near East Flashcards
Reconstruction of Çatalhöyük. PPNB. 7500 BC to 5700 B, Turkey. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. The site was first excavated in 1958. Ian Hodder has worked here more recently.
‘PPN’ Kathleen Kenyon – excavations at Jericho (1950s)
Gobekli Tepe, Turkey
- 9,600-8000 cal. BC
- Complex of megalithic temples on top of low mound
- Jerf el Ahmar
- occupied between 9200 and 8700 BC
- PPNB
Catalhoyuk, bull horns sets in a platform. 7500 BC to 5700 B, Turkey. Found in many domestic houses - potential ritual importance?
Çatal Höyük “Goddess” statue - may suggest Catalhoyuk was a goddess cult. 7500 BC to 5700 B, Turkey.
‘Ain Ghazal. ’Ain Ghazal is an Aceramic Neolithic site in Jordan. 7250 BC - 5000 BC. One of the largest known prehistoric settlements in the Near East. Buried the dead under the floors and built plaster and mud walls and figurines, half human size and buried in pits.
Heads at Aswad and Jericho. Cult of the skulls. Plastered and painted human skulls. Made in the Levant between 7000 and 6000 BC in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying theirancestors below their homes.
The Natufian
- Late Epipaleoltihic (12,000 – 9,600 BC)
- Syria
- Exploitation of environmental niches
- Sedentary or semi-sedentary occupation
- Advanced hunting-and-gathering subsistence strategies
- Jericho
- 11,000 years (9000 BCE) •
PPNA
- The end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (c. 6,900-6,500 BC)
- Widespread adoption of pottery
- (associated to new cooking traditions: boiling food)
- The ‘Collapse’ of Aceramic societies?
- Widespread abandonment of sites
- More likely, regional shifts in settlement occupation.
- New emphasis on mobility
Eridu, argued to be the earliest city in the world. 5400 BC- 600BC.
