Plastered Crania and Community Rituals in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Levant

Abstract

During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, complicated mortuary ritual developed in the Levant, which expanded upon traditions of earlier time periods. During the earlier Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A periods there was already an emphasis on the head and especially the face, and crania were removed after burial. However, in the PPNB, these practices were expanded and contained more elaborate elements than the previous time periods. The emphasis on the face and post-mortem cranium removal is evidenced through a more elaborate form with the plastered skulls. Not only was the cranium removed, but also decorated. Furthermore, large-scale anthropomorphic statuary was constructed with an emphasis on the face, to be used in public ceremonies. The focus on the head is also seen through its absence. Already present in earlier time periods through headless burials, this theme began to appear through headless figurines of both animals and humans. The skull was a focus in life as well as in death, evidenced by skull modification during life. The plastered skulls bring these focuses into mortuary practices. These practices and symbolic representations are all interconnected strands of a changing worldview resulting from sedentism, domestication and societal changes.