Flint ‘figurines’ from the Early Neolithic site of Kharaysin, Jordan

During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC onwards, human iconography became more widespread. Explanations for this development, however, remain elusive. This article presents a unique assemblage of flint artefacts from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neoli...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Ibáñez-Estévez, Juan José, Muñiz-Álvarez, Juan Ramón, Huet, Thomas, Santana, Jonathan, Teira, Luis, Borrell i Tena, Ferran, Rosillo, Rafael, Iriarte, Eneko
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/216499
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/216499
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Near East
Jordan
Kharaysin
Figurines
Mortuary practices
Descrição
Resumo:During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC onwards, human iconography became more widespread. Explanations for this development, however, remain elusive. This article presents a unique assemblage of flint artefacts from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (eighth millennium BC) site of Kharaysin in Jordan. Contextual, morphological, statistical and use-wear analyses of these artefacts suggest that they are not tools but rather human figurines. Their close association with burial contexts suggests that they were manufactured and discarded during mortuary rituals and remembrance ceremonies that included the extraction, manipulation and redeposition of human remains.