Estelle Orrelle - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Estelle Orrelle

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant

Time and Mind, Sep 26, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of The pre-iconography, iconography and iconology of a sixth to fifth millennium BC Near Eastern incised bone

Time and Mind, Jan 2, 2016

ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of N... more ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of Neve-Yam, dating to the sixth–fifth millennium BC and associated with the Pottery Neolithic/early Chalcolithic, Wadi Rabah culture, are subjected to systematic analysis using a methodology for research into symbolic subjects which tracks iconographic survival, focusing on the fusion and renewal of symbols. Mythical and historical evidence is assembled and assessed and art history sources are drawn upon, to provide a more comprehensive explanatory approach for the diverse lines of evidence. Iconographic links between motifs on the bone figurines with later Sumerian mythology require a re-evaluation of the chronological dispersion of symbolic graphemes; the application of new research on the relationship between art and writing suggests that narrative-making rather than evocation can be identified in this material. Such narratives reveal Neolithic precursors of ancient cosmological concepts and bring to light a tantalizing set of features which help to illuminate pre-literate, aniconic narratives of an early pantheon in the Neolithic period of the Near East.

Research paper thumbnail of Investigating Hybridity: Neolithic Human-Bird Figurines from the Southern Levant

Research paper thumbnail of Fire-drills in the Neolithic Near East

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Jul 21, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Material Images of Humans from the Natufian to Pottery Neolithic Periods in the Levant

Map of the levant chronology 4. Archaeological Background to the End of the Natufian 4.1 Paleoper... more Map of the levant chronology 4. Archaeological Background to the End of the Natufian 4.1 Paleoperspective-out of africa 4.2 terminal Pleistocene cultures 4.3 The Natufian culture ~ 12,500 to 10,200 years ago. shamanism Natufian imagery 5. Archaeological Background Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic Periods 5.1 Pre-Pottery neolithic period ~10,200-7,600 years ago Pre-Pottery neolithic a ~10,200-9,500 years ago PPna imagery red coloured skulls 5.2 Pre-Pottery neolithic b and Pre-Pottery neolithic c ~9,500-7,600 years ago PPnb imagery Pre-Pottery neolithic c 5.3 the Pottery neolithic Period ~7,500-6,300 years ago the yarmukian culture ~7,500-6,900 years ago the lodian (Jericho iX) culture the Wadi raba culture ~6.900-6,300 years ago 6. Interpretation 6.1 sexual imagery 6.2 'gender of power' 6.3 genital shapes ambiguous shapes and combined shapes Parure assemblage-shell beads conventions for male and female assimilation of genitals and eyes 7. Interpretation-Male Gods 7.1 elaboration of phallus, thigh and skull 7.2 axe gods and solar gods genital metaphor in tools genital analogy lozenges 7.3 therianthropic images 7.4 Posture and gesture-body art open legs-display position trihedral 8. Other Theories 8.1 evolutionary origin theories 8.2 blood meanings 8.3 entoptic imagery 9. Implictions for the Neolithic 9.1 original social contract-Hunter-gatherers 9.2 new social contract 9.3 Sacrifice ritualization of material objects Archaeological recognition of sacrifice violence separation Sacrifice as a Fertility Ritual Political implications 9.4. lineage 9.5 continuity of symbols-changing meanings 9.6 conclusion bibliograPHy PART II: Illustrations figures 1-125; figure references Period~Dates Duration Features Wadi Raba** 6,900-6,300 years ago~6 years Cluster of regional variants; recognized by pottery assemblage, domesticated sheep and goats, cattle and pigs; domesticated cereals, legumes, secondary products, milk products? olives, spinning and weaving. Yarmukian** 7,500-6,900 years ago~6 00 years Earliest pottery assemblage in S. Levant; culture recognized by distinctive pottery, imagery, flint tools; mostly domesticated sheep, goat, cattle, pigs. Domesticated cereals, legumes, flax. Pre-Pottery Neolithic B 9,500-7,600 years ago~1 ,900 years Emergence of village societies; population increase; broad cultural interaction zone "koine" over entire Levant and beyond. Large settlements; rectangular architecture; farming domesticated cereals, pulses. Domesticated sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. Intensive ritual and mortuary practices. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A 10,200-9,500 years ago~7 00 years Systemic cultivation, perhaps domestication supplemented by continued foraging and hunting; architecture; hierarchy of site sizes; earliest tel sites in the region. Intensive ritual and mortuary practices. Natufian (Late Epi-Palaeolithic)* 12,500-10,200 years ago ~2,300 years Complex hunter-gatherer society; from large sedentary communities to mobile communities; circular stone architecture. Broad spectrum foraging; intensive plant exploitation; hunting; domesticated dogs. Elaborate mortuary practices. Dates are calculated to: * Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic dates based on Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen 1998:75. ** Pottery Neolithic dates are based on Gopher 1995a:208. cHronology Symbolic culture origins-the FCC model Central to the definition of the symbolic realm is: "… the invention of a whole new kind of things, things that have no existence in the 'real' world but exist entirely in the symbolic realm.' Chase (1994: 628). cHaPter one 1.2 The contribution of history Researchers debating the appearance, origin and significance of monotheism and female deities in ancient israel (e.g. keel 1980, lang 1981 and Haag 1985) draw increasingly on visual depictions recovered from archaeological excavations, identifying religious concepts and symbols of divine pantheons. thus for historical periods, a rich repertoire of symbolic material has been collected with which to identify gods (keel, 1997[1972]; keel and uehlinger 1998). these symbols are extremely conservative and keel (1998) takes the view that the generally accepted view of this period in the southern levant is one of changed subsistence, an economy of domesticated resources and sedentary living (e.g. bar-yosef and belfer-cohen 1989b; bar-yosef and Meadow 1995).

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant 1

Cultures using mind-altering psychedelic mushrooms in literate periods have been identified in th... more Cultures using mind-altering psychedelic mushrooms in literate periods have been identified in the ancient Near East. key to their recognition in preliterate periods. One may assume that psychedelic substances such as mushrooms were elevated to the status of gods, and their secret identity embedded in the iconography of material items in a variety of media. I trace some of these images from late Holocene cultures until at least the Early Bronze Age, and suggest analogies from known contemporary cultures where the mycological cult was practiced. I note the presence of such a cult in the rock art of the Negev and Sinai deserts in Israel. Most of this art is thought to date within the last 5000 years. I also suggest a symbiotic relationship between man and ibex with the growth and collection of mushrooms linking the two.

Research paper thumbnail of Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant

Research paper thumbnail of Fire-drills in the Neolithic Near East

Solarizing the Moon: Essays in honour of Lionel Sims

Research paper thumbnail of The pre-iconography, iconography and iconology of a sixth to fifth millennium BC Near Eastern incised bone

Time and Mind, 2016

ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of N... more ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of Neve-Yam, dating to the sixth–fifth millennium BC and associated with the Pottery Neolithic/early Chalcolithic, Wadi Rabah culture, are subjected to systematic analysis using a methodology for research into symbolic subjects which tracks iconographic survival, focusing on the fusion and renewal of symbols. Mythical and historical evidence is assembled and assessed and art history sources are drawn upon, to provide a more comprehensive explanatory approach for the diverse lines of evidence. Iconographic links between motifs on the bone figurines with later Sumerian mythology require a re-evaluation of the chronological dispersion of symbolic graphemes; the application of new research on the relationship between art and writing suggests that narrative-making rather than evocation can be identified in this material. Such narratives reveal Neolithic precursors of ancient cosmological concepts and bring to light a tantalizing set of features which help to illuminate pre-literate, aniconic narratives of an early pantheon in the Neolithic period of the Near East.

Research paper thumbnail of The Pottery Neolithic Period

Fundamental Issues in Archaeology

The appearance of cultivated grains and domesticated animals in the south-ern Levant has traditio... more The appearance of cultivated grains and domesticated animals in the south-ern Levant has traditionally been related in some form or another to the realm of subsistence. An increasing number of archaeologists, however, (eg, Bender 1985; Hayden 1990)assert that social ...

Research paper thumbnail of An Alternative Interpretation for the Material Imagery of the Yarmukian, a Neolithic Culture of the Sixth Millennium BC in the Southern Levant

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1996

This study describes material imagery portraying anthropomorphic subjects executed in stone and c... more This study describes material imagery portraying anthropomorphic subjects executed in stone and clay which appear on sites of the Yarmukian culture in the Southern Levant during the sixth millennium BC. Speculations are made and interpretations offered for the incised stone and clay images of persons and genitals as artefacts recording encoded information. It is suggested that some kinds of imagery are associated with age and reproductive status and relate to gender categorization, and yet other kinds could be related to socio-political discussion.

Research paper thumbnail of Coffee Beans, Cowries and Vulvas: a Reply to Comments by Y. Garfinkel

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Evidence for a Muelos belief in African and near East Neolithic mortuary rituals

Museum

New Analogy" envisages universal ideas in the ideational field unrestrained by requirements of cu... more New Analogy" envisages universal ideas in the ideational field unrestrained by requirements of culture-historical continuity or ecological restraints. Ideas which have survived millennia through temporal diffusion or replication of oral and other traditions over vast areas are useful in inferring prehistoric ideation of symbolic meanings. "Lower range" analysis of mortuary data can provide a relevant link between there sources and archaeological subject. One such universal idea is the 'muelos' belief, shared by many ethnographically documented cultures throughout the world. This belief which links brain, bone marrow and semen as essentially common substances is thought to have arisen from an original Paleolithic Urkultur. The preservation and distribution of precious life matter may be considered as one of the ideas behind bone cults providing an explanation for a variety of ritual such as headhunting, decapitation, skull treatments and cannibalism. Regularities in skeletal remains in Paleolithic and Neolithic periods in the Near East and Nubia may support the idea that a muelos belief operated. If so, it may be further speculated that inward oriented rituals, where vital body substances are manipulated for the reproduction of society, characterized these societies, offering an insight into the elusive archaeology of the mind in preliterate periods. Anthropology describes ancient time-resistant beliefs and it is reasonable to anticipate that these would be evident in archaeological material. This could be described simply as the identification of the unobservable in the observable archeological record. It requires the application of a methodology, whose epistemology relies on the ontological, and which can be supported by tests on the data, as recommended by Wylie (2002).

Research paper thumbnail of Acts of Neolithic ritualization associated with Levantine bovine figurines

Time and Mind, 2018

This paper investigates a corpus of Neolithic clay bovine figurines recovered from archaeological... more This paper investigates a corpus of Neolithic clay bovine figurines recovered from archaeological sites in the Central and Southern Levant. Despite numerous investigations, their function as utilitarian versus ritual objects is still unclear. In order to assess this issue, the depositional contexts and physical characteristics of just over 500 figurines were examined. The results reveal formalized and repetitive contextual data for the majority of the figurines studied, as well as commonality in their form and modifications. With reference to analogues from later Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft texts, support is found for the identification of the bovine figurines as objects associated with acts of ritualization, especially sacrifice, tied to the veneration of aurochs in Pre-Ceramic Neolithic periods. Furthermore, a symbolic structure linking bulls, sun, fire, ash, purification, fertility and rebirth was identified, possibly tying the bovine figurines to later fire rituals that are celebrated worldwide.

Research paper thumbnail of Figurative Representations from Neveh Yam and Other Sites in Israel: Markers of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic South Levant Cultures

Israel Exploration Journal, 2016

Four symbolic artefacts were recovered from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah cul... more Four symbolic artefacts were recovered from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah culture) site of Neveh Yam, dated to the sixth--fifth millennia BCE. These comprise two anthropomorphic figurines made of stone, one anthropomorphic image incised on bone and a sherd with zoomorphic incisions. These artefacts are described and discussed with reference to similar objects found in additional Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic sites in the southern Levant and later sites in Mesopotamia, the Aegean and the Iberian Peninsula. It is proposed that the bone figurines from Neveh Yam, ʿEn Ṣippori and Ha-Gosherim could represent a symbolic marker for the Wadi Rabah culture and contemporary cultures in the South Levant. 151 DANIEL VAINSTUB and DAVID BEN-SHLOMO: A Hebrew Seal and an Ostracon from Tel Hebron ABSTRACT: This article describes and discusses a private Hebrew seal and a fragment of a Hebrew ostracon recently found in an archaeological excavation at Tel Hebron (Roumeida). The i...

Research paper thumbnail of The Flint Industry of Naḥal Zehora I, a Wadi Raba Site in the Menashe Hills

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1989

T he entity known as "Wadi Raba," named for the site at which it was discovered and fir... more T he entity known as "Wadi Raba," named for the site at which it was discovered and first defined, consists of collections exposed over a half century in a strip of territory stretching from Kabri near the present Lebanese border in the north, to Nahal Sorek and the Dead Sea in ...

Research paper thumbnail of AeAT 90 Orrelle

Section 4: "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines": Entering the Third... more Section 4: "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines": Entering the Third Decade of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project

Research paper thumbnail of AeAT 90 Orrelle

Research paper thumbnail of Material Images of Humans from the Natufian to Pottery Neolithic Periods in the Levant

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant

Time and Mind, Sep 26, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of The pre-iconography, iconography and iconology of a sixth to fifth millennium BC Near Eastern incised bone

Time and Mind, Jan 2, 2016

ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of N... more ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of Neve-Yam, dating to the sixth–fifth millennium BC and associated with the Pottery Neolithic/early Chalcolithic, Wadi Rabah culture, are subjected to systematic analysis using a methodology for research into symbolic subjects which tracks iconographic survival, focusing on the fusion and renewal of symbols. Mythical and historical evidence is assembled and assessed and art history sources are drawn upon, to provide a more comprehensive explanatory approach for the diverse lines of evidence. Iconographic links between motifs on the bone figurines with later Sumerian mythology require a re-evaluation of the chronological dispersion of symbolic graphemes; the application of new research on the relationship between art and writing suggests that narrative-making rather than evocation can be identified in this material. Such narratives reveal Neolithic precursors of ancient cosmological concepts and bring to light a tantalizing set of features which help to illuminate pre-literate, aniconic narratives of an early pantheon in the Neolithic period of the Near East.

Research paper thumbnail of Investigating Hybridity: Neolithic Human-Bird Figurines from the Southern Levant

Research paper thumbnail of Fire-drills in the Neolithic Near East

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Jul 21, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Material Images of Humans from the Natufian to Pottery Neolithic Periods in the Levant

Map of the levant chronology 4. Archaeological Background to the End of the Natufian 4.1 Paleoper... more Map of the levant chronology 4. Archaeological Background to the End of the Natufian 4.1 Paleoperspective-out of africa 4.2 terminal Pleistocene cultures 4.3 The Natufian culture ~ 12,500 to 10,200 years ago. shamanism Natufian imagery 5. Archaeological Background Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic Periods 5.1 Pre-Pottery neolithic period ~10,200-7,600 years ago Pre-Pottery neolithic a ~10,200-9,500 years ago PPna imagery red coloured skulls 5.2 Pre-Pottery neolithic b and Pre-Pottery neolithic c ~9,500-7,600 years ago PPnb imagery Pre-Pottery neolithic c 5.3 the Pottery neolithic Period ~7,500-6,300 years ago the yarmukian culture ~7,500-6,900 years ago the lodian (Jericho iX) culture the Wadi raba culture ~6.900-6,300 years ago 6. Interpretation 6.1 sexual imagery 6.2 'gender of power' 6.3 genital shapes ambiguous shapes and combined shapes Parure assemblage-shell beads conventions for male and female assimilation of genitals and eyes 7. Interpretation-Male Gods 7.1 elaboration of phallus, thigh and skull 7.2 axe gods and solar gods genital metaphor in tools genital analogy lozenges 7.3 therianthropic images 7.4 Posture and gesture-body art open legs-display position trihedral 8. Other Theories 8.1 evolutionary origin theories 8.2 blood meanings 8.3 entoptic imagery 9. Implictions for the Neolithic 9.1 original social contract-Hunter-gatherers 9.2 new social contract 9.3 Sacrifice ritualization of material objects Archaeological recognition of sacrifice violence separation Sacrifice as a Fertility Ritual Political implications 9.4. lineage 9.5 continuity of symbols-changing meanings 9.6 conclusion bibliograPHy PART II: Illustrations figures 1-125; figure references Period~Dates Duration Features Wadi Raba** 6,900-6,300 years ago~6 years Cluster of regional variants; recognized by pottery assemblage, domesticated sheep and goats, cattle and pigs; domesticated cereals, legumes, secondary products, milk products? olives, spinning and weaving. Yarmukian** 7,500-6,900 years ago~6 00 years Earliest pottery assemblage in S. Levant; culture recognized by distinctive pottery, imagery, flint tools; mostly domesticated sheep, goat, cattle, pigs. Domesticated cereals, legumes, flax. Pre-Pottery Neolithic B 9,500-7,600 years ago~1 ,900 years Emergence of village societies; population increase; broad cultural interaction zone "koine" over entire Levant and beyond. Large settlements; rectangular architecture; farming domesticated cereals, pulses. Domesticated sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. Intensive ritual and mortuary practices. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A 10,200-9,500 years ago~7 00 years Systemic cultivation, perhaps domestication supplemented by continued foraging and hunting; architecture; hierarchy of site sizes; earliest tel sites in the region. Intensive ritual and mortuary practices. Natufian (Late Epi-Palaeolithic)* 12,500-10,200 years ago ~2,300 years Complex hunter-gatherer society; from large sedentary communities to mobile communities; circular stone architecture. Broad spectrum foraging; intensive plant exploitation; hunting; domesticated dogs. Elaborate mortuary practices. Dates are calculated to: * Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic dates based on Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen 1998:75. ** Pottery Neolithic dates are based on Gopher 1995a:208. cHronology Symbolic culture origins-the FCC model Central to the definition of the symbolic realm is: "… the invention of a whole new kind of things, things that have no existence in the 'real' world but exist entirely in the symbolic realm.' Chase (1994: 628). cHaPter one 1.2 The contribution of history Researchers debating the appearance, origin and significance of monotheism and female deities in ancient israel (e.g. keel 1980, lang 1981 and Haag 1985) draw increasingly on visual depictions recovered from archaeological excavations, identifying religious concepts and symbols of divine pantheons. thus for historical periods, a rich repertoire of symbolic material has been collected with which to identify gods (keel, 1997[1972]; keel and uehlinger 1998). these symbols are extremely conservative and keel (1998) takes the view that the generally accepted view of this period in the southern levant is one of changed subsistence, an economy of domesticated resources and sedentary living (e.g. bar-yosef and belfer-cohen 1989b; bar-yosef and Meadow 1995).

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant 1

Cultures using mind-altering psychedelic mushrooms in literate periods have been identified in th... more Cultures using mind-altering psychedelic mushrooms in literate periods have been identified in the ancient Near East. key to their recognition in preliterate periods. One may assume that psychedelic substances such as mushrooms were elevated to the status of gods, and their secret identity embedded in the iconography of material items in a variety of media. I trace some of these images from late Holocene cultures until at least the Early Bronze Age, and suggest analogies from known contemporary cultures where the mycological cult was practiced. I note the presence of such a cult in the rock art of the Negev and Sinai deserts in Israel. Most of this art is thought to date within the last 5000 years. I also suggest a symbiotic relationship between man and ibex with the growth and collection of mushrooms linking the two.

Research paper thumbnail of Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying iconographic evidence for a mushroom cult in the preliterate Southern Levant

Research paper thumbnail of Fire-drills in the Neolithic Near East

Solarizing the Moon: Essays in honour of Lionel Sims

Research paper thumbnail of The pre-iconography, iconography and iconology of a sixth to fifth millennium BC Near Eastern incised bone

Time and Mind, 2016

ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of N... more ABSTRACT The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of Neve-Yam, dating to the sixth–fifth millennium BC and associated with the Pottery Neolithic/early Chalcolithic, Wadi Rabah culture, are subjected to systematic analysis using a methodology for research into symbolic subjects which tracks iconographic survival, focusing on the fusion and renewal of symbols. Mythical and historical evidence is assembled and assessed and art history sources are drawn upon, to provide a more comprehensive explanatory approach for the diverse lines of evidence. Iconographic links between motifs on the bone figurines with later Sumerian mythology require a re-evaluation of the chronological dispersion of symbolic graphemes; the application of new research on the relationship between art and writing suggests that narrative-making rather than evocation can be identified in this material. Such narratives reveal Neolithic precursors of ancient cosmological concepts and bring to light a tantalizing set of features which help to illuminate pre-literate, aniconic narratives of an early pantheon in the Neolithic period of the Near East.

Research paper thumbnail of The Pottery Neolithic Period

Fundamental Issues in Archaeology

The appearance of cultivated grains and domesticated animals in the south-ern Levant has traditio... more The appearance of cultivated grains and domesticated animals in the south-ern Levant has traditionally been related in some form or another to the realm of subsistence. An increasing number of archaeologists, however, (eg, Bender 1985; Hayden 1990)assert that social ...

Research paper thumbnail of An Alternative Interpretation for the Material Imagery of the Yarmukian, a Neolithic Culture of the Sixth Millennium BC in the Southern Levant

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1996

This study describes material imagery portraying anthropomorphic subjects executed in stone and c... more This study describes material imagery portraying anthropomorphic subjects executed in stone and clay which appear on sites of the Yarmukian culture in the Southern Levant during the sixth millennium BC. Speculations are made and interpretations offered for the incised stone and clay images of persons and genitals as artefacts recording encoded information. It is suggested that some kinds of imagery are associated with age and reproductive status and relate to gender categorization, and yet other kinds could be related to socio-political discussion.

Research paper thumbnail of Coffee Beans, Cowries and Vulvas: a Reply to Comments by Y. Garfinkel

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Evidence for a Muelos belief in African and near East Neolithic mortuary rituals

Museum

New Analogy" envisages universal ideas in the ideational field unrestrained by requirements of cu... more New Analogy" envisages universal ideas in the ideational field unrestrained by requirements of culture-historical continuity or ecological restraints. Ideas which have survived millennia through temporal diffusion or replication of oral and other traditions over vast areas are useful in inferring prehistoric ideation of symbolic meanings. "Lower range" analysis of mortuary data can provide a relevant link between there sources and archaeological subject. One such universal idea is the 'muelos' belief, shared by many ethnographically documented cultures throughout the world. This belief which links brain, bone marrow and semen as essentially common substances is thought to have arisen from an original Paleolithic Urkultur. The preservation and distribution of precious life matter may be considered as one of the ideas behind bone cults providing an explanation for a variety of ritual such as headhunting, decapitation, skull treatments and cannibalism. Regularities in skeletal remains in Paleolithic and Neolithic periods in the Near East and Nubia may support the idea that a muelos belief operated. If so, it may be further speculated that inward oriented rituals, where vital body substances are manipulated for the reproduction of society, characterized these societies, offering an insight into the elusive archaeology of the mind in preliterate periods. Anthropology describes ancient time-resistant beliefs and it is reasonable to anticipate that these would be evident in archaeological material. This could be described simply as the identification of the unobservable in the observable archeological record. It requires the application of a methodology, whose epistemology relies on the ontological, and which can be supported by tests on the data, as recommended by Wylie (2002).

Research paper thumbnail of Acts of Neolithic ritualization associated with Levantine bovine figurines

Time and Mind, 2018

This paper investigates a corpus of Neolithic clay bovine figurines recovered from archaeological... more This paper investigates a corpus of Neolithic clay bovine figurines recovered from archaeological sites in the Central and Southern Levant. Despite numerous investigations, their function as utilitarian versus ritual objects is still unclear. In order to assess this issue, the depositional contexts and physical characteristics of just over 500 figurines were examined. The results reveal formalized and repetitive contextual data for the majority of the figurines studied, as well as commonality in their form and modifications. With reference to analogues from later Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft texts, support is found for the identification of the bovine figurines as objects associated with acts of ritualization, especially sacrifice, tied to the veneration of aurochs in Pre-Ceramic Neolithic periods. Furthermore, a symbolic structure linking bulls, sun, fire, ash, purification, fertility and rebirth was identified, possibly tying the bovine figurines to later fire rituals that are celebrated worldwide.

Research paper thumbnail of Figurative Representations from Neveh Yam and Other Sites in Israel: Markers of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic South Levant Cultures

Israel Exploration Journal, 2016

Four symbolic artefacts were recovered from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah cul... more Four symbolic artefacts were recovered from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah culture) site of Neveh Yam, dated to the sixth--fifth millennia BCE. These comprise two anthropomorphic figurines made of stone, one anthropomorphic image incised on bone and a sherd with zoomorphic incisions. These artefacts are described and discussed with reference to similar objects found in additional Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic sites in the southern Levant and later sites in Mesopotamia, the Aegean and the Iberian Peninsula. It is proposed that the bone figurines from Neveh Yam, ʿEn Ṣippori and Ha-Gosherim could represent a symbolic marker for the Wadi Rabah culture and contemporary cultures in the South Levant. 151 DANIEL VAINSTUB and DAVID BEN-SHLOMO: A Hebrew Seal and an Ostracon from Tel Hebron ABSTRACT: This article describes and discusses a private Hebrew seal and a fragment of a Hebrew ostracon recently found in an archaeological excavation at Tel Hebron (Roumeida). The i...

Research paper thumbnail of The Flint Industry of Naḥal Zehora I, a Wadi Raba Site in the Menashe Hills

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1989

T he entity known as "Wadi Raba," named for the site at which it was discovered and fir... more T he entity known as "Wadi Raba," named for the site at which it was discovered and first defined, consists of collections exposed over a half century in a strip of territory stretching from Kabri near the present Lebanese border in the north, to Nahal Sorek and the Dead Sea in ...

Research paper thumbnail of AeAT 90 Orrelle

Section 4: "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines": Entering the Third... more Section 4: "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines": Entering the Third Decade of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project

Research paper thumbnail of AeAT 90 Orrelle

Research paper thumbnail of Material Images of Humans from the Natufian to Pottery Neolithic Periods in the Levant

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2017