An Ancient Token System - The Precursor To Numerals And Writing

Anthropolog

The Human Clay Figurines And Ancient Near Eastern Magic

‘Ain Ghazal is a Neolithic site located near Amman, Jordan. It was excavated between 1982 and 1998 by an American-Jordanian team directed by Gary O. Rollefson, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa. and Zeidan Kafafi, the University of Yarmouk at Irbid, Jordan. ‘Ain Ghazal was first settled about 7250 B.C., during the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. In a matter of a few centuries the village of stone houses had spread over 30 acres along the Zarqa River. During a prosperous period when the mixed economy increasingly relied on farming, ca. 7250-6000 B.C., ‘Ain Ghazal witnessed what can be termed an explosion of symbolism. The site was abandoned in the Yarmoukian period ca. 5000 BC. The volume deals with the uniquely rich and varied ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage of symbols including tokens of many shapes, animal and human figurines, modeled human skulls, plaster statues and, mural and floor paintings.The chapter analyses the forty-nine Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and Yarmoukian anthropomorphic clay figurines. The first part of the study documents the collection: the number of artifacts, their types, style, material, manufacture, surface treatment, and firing. The figurines are then related to their context: their spatial distribution and place in the stratigraphy, their relation to the remainder of the assemblage, and their parallels elsewhere in the Near East. The second part addresses the possible function of the figurines. The objects are shown to match the criteria denoting the perennial ancient Near Eastern magical practices, as described in the cuneiform literature.Art Histor

The interface between writing and art: the seals of Tepe Gawra

L’article traite de l’influence de l’écriture sur l’art de la période urbaine dans le Proche-Orient ancien. J’analyse les compositions – comment les images sont organisées – sur les sceaux de Tepe Gawra, 5500-2000 av. J.‑C. Je note que  : A) les sceaux qui précèdent l’écriture portent des figures tête-bêche ou pêle-mêle qui ne montrent aucune action réciproque  ; B) avec les compositions linéaires empruntées à l’écriture, la glyptique de l’époque protohistorique commence à lier les figures de simples compositions narratives, limitées à deux personnages  ; C) à l’époque historique, la glyptique imite la syntaxe et les déterminatifs de l’écriture pour créer des scènes narratives complexes. Je crédite l’écriture de ce changement conceptuel illustré par le passage des compositions d’images répétées, qui ne savaient qu’évoquer une idée, aux scènes narratives, ainsi que de l’évolution des compositions considérées globalement, à celles qui étaient «  lues » analytiquement.The article deals with the impact of writing on art during the Urban Period in the Near East. My analysis focuses on the compositions – the way images are organized – on the seals of Tepe Gawra, 5500-2000 BC. I note that : A) the preliterate seals feature figures head-to-tail or pell-mell that show no interaction ; B) the proto-literate glyptic borrows the linear composition of writing to link the figures of simple narratives ; C) in the historic period, glyptic emulates the strategies of writing, i.e. syntax and determinatives, to create complex narratives. I credit writing for the conceptual change from repetitious designs, simply able to evoke an idea, to complex narrative scenes ; and from the preliterate all over patterns apprehended globally, to the literate compositions “read” analytically.خلاصة – يعالج هذا المقال تأثير الكتابة على الفن من الفترة المدينية في الشرق الأدنى القديم. وفي هذا المقال أقوم بتحليل التراكيب ـ كيفية تنظيم الصورـ على الأختام الاسطوانية في تبه جوارا، في الفترة الممتدة بين 5500 ـ 2000 ق.م. أدون بأنه : أ ـ إن الأختام التي تسبق الكتابة تحمل صوراً لأشكال متعاكسة أو مختلطة والتي لا تظهر أي حركة تبادلية. ب ـ مع التشكيلات الخطية المستعارة من الكتابة، بدأت النقوش على الحجارة في فترة ما قبل التاريخ بربط الأشكال، البسيطة التراكيب القصصية، والمحصورة بشخصيتين فقط. ت ـ في الفترة التاريخية، يقتدي النقش على الحجارة بعلم النحو و تعليمات الكتابة من أجل خلق مشاهد قصصية معقدة.إنني أرجع للكتابة هذا التغيير التصوّري المنظور له بطريقة إجمالية من خلال مرور تراكيب الصور المتكررة والتي كانت تعطينا فكرة بسيطة للمشاهد الروائية، بالإضافة إلى تطور العناصر القصصية والتي تتطلب قراءة تحليلة

Neolithic Symbolism At 'Ain Ghazal

‘Ain Ghazal is a Neolithic site located near Amman, Jordan. It was excavated between 1982 and 1998 by an American-Jordanian team directed by Gary O. Rollefson, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa. and Zeidan Kafafi, the University of Yarmouk at Irbid, Jordan. ‘Ain Ghazal was first settled about 7250 B.C., during the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. In a matter of a few centuries the village of stone houses had spread over 30 acres along the Zarqa River. During a prosperous period when the mixed economy increasingly relied on farming, ca. 7250-6000 B.C., ‘Ain Ghazal witnessed what can be termed an explosion of symbolism. The site was abandoned in the Yarmoukian period ca. 5000 BC. The volume deals with the uniquely rich and varied ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage of symbols including tokens of many shapes, animal and human figurines, modeled human skulls, plaster statues and, mural and floor paintings.The excavations at ‘Ain Ghazal produced a collection of eight types of symbols including tokens, animal and human figurines, statuettes, statues, modeled skulls, standing stones, and paintings. The rich assemblage is significant in three major ways: 1. It sheds light on Neolithic communication; 2. The evolution of symbolism can be studied in relation to the site extensive stratigraphy; 3. It brings attention to the dominance of anthropomorphic symbolism.Art and Art Histor

Letter from Denise Schmandt-Besserat to Emmett L. Bennett Jr., November 23, 1983

Schmandt-Besserat informs Bennett she has accepted a fellowship for 1984-1985 to study at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin.Classic

Animal Figurines

‘Ain Ghazal is a Neolithic site located near Amman, Jordan. It was excavated between 1982 and 1998 by an American-Jordanian team directed by Gary O. Rollefson, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa. and Zeidan Kafafi, the University of Yarmouk at Irbid, Jordan. ‘Ain Ghazal was first settled about 7250 B.C., during the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. In a matter of a few centuries the village of stone houses had spread over 30 acres along the Zarqa River. During a prosperous period when the mixed economy increasingly relied on farming, ca. 7250-6000 B.C., ‘Ain Ghazal witnessed what can be termed an explosion of symbolism. The site was abandoned in the Yarmoukian period ca. 5000 BC. The volume deals with the uniquely rich and varied ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage of symbols including tokens of many shapes, animal and human figurines, modeled human skulls, plaster statues and, mural and floor paintings.The excavations at ‘Ain Ghazal generated an assemblage of 151 animal figurines, most of which depict horned animals such as bulls, goats, rams, and gazelles. The artifacts were cursorily made of coarse clay in a style that combined stylized withers and legs with highly naturalistic horns. The disposal of some figurines under house floors or in domestic hearths and their repetitious style suggest that the objects were not simply whimsical representations, but that they instead had a specific function. This chapter reviews how later Mesopotamian magical texts may provide an insight into the ritual use of these prehistoric figurines.Art and Art Histor

How Writing Came About

In 1992, the University of Texas Press published Before Writing, Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform and Before Writing, Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. In these two volumes, Denise Schmandt-Besserat set forth her groundbreaking theory that the cuneiform script invented in the Near East in the late fourth millennium B.C.—the world\u27s oldest known system of writing—derived from an archaic counting device.How Writing Came About draws material from both volumes to present Schmandt-Besserat\u27s theory for a wide public and classroom audience. Based on the analysis and interpretation of a selection of 8,000 tokens or counters from 116 sites in Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey, it documents the immediate precursor of the cuneiform script.https://scholar.dominican.edu/cynthia-stokes-brown-books-personal-research/1078/thumbnail.jp

A Stone Metaphor Of Creation

‘Ain Ghazal is a Neolithic site located near Amman, Jordan. It was excavated between 1982 and 1998 by an American-Jordanian team directed by Gary O. Rollefson, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa. and Zeidan Kafafi, the University of Yarmouk at Irbid, Jordan. ‘Ain Ghazal was first settled about 7250 B.C., during the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. In a matter of a few centuries the village of stone houses had spread over 30 acres along the Zarqa River. During a prosperous period when the mixed economy increasingly relied on farming, ca. 7250-6000 B.C., ‘Ain Ghazal witnessed what can be termed an explosion of symbolism. The site was abandoned in the Yarmoukian period ca. 5000 BC. The volume deals with the uniquely rich and varied ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage of symbols including tokens of many shapes, animal and human figurines, modeled human skulls, plaster statues and, mural and floor paintings.A unique stone statuette, 14 cm high, glorifies pregnancy. The sophisticated geometric composition of the sculpture, based on triangular and circular arrangements, exalts a woman and her bulging stomach, while the material, a pink limestone, celebrates her nudity. The statuette was found in situ, face down, at the end of a stone path, where it might have been displayed for worship in a small shrine of perishable material. The context in which the statuette was recovered suggests that, like their BroArt and Art Histor

Murals And Floor Paintings At 'Ain Ghazal

‘Ain Ghazal is a Neolithic site located near Amman, Jordan. It was excavated between 1982 and 1998 by an American-Jordanian team directed by Gary O. Rollefson, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wa. and Zeidan Kafafi, the University of Yarmouk at Irbid, Jordan. ‘Ain Ghazal was first settled about 7250 B.C., during the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. In a matter of a few centuries the village of stone houses had spread over 30 acres along the Zarqa River. During a prosperous period when the mixed economy increasingly relied on farming, ca. 7250-6000 B.C., ‘Ain Ghazal witnessed what can be termed an explosion of symbolism. The site was abandoned in the Yarmoukian period ca. 5000 BC. The volume deals with the uniquely rich and varied ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage of symbols including tokens of many shapes, animal and human figurines, modeled human skulls, plaster statues and, mural and floor paintings.Painting on interior walls and floors of houses was a common practice at ‘Ain Ghazal. The chapter describes the panels of flat white or red color and the few red-on-yellow, or red-on-white linear compositions. The colorants are discussed, in particular lime for white, ochre for red, and limonite for yellow, as well as the techniques involved. The ‘Ain Ghazal assemblage is then compared to those of contemporaneous sites before reviewing the traditional ancient Near East color symbolism as revealed by the Bronze Age cuneiform texts. Finally the paintings are shown to reflect the cognitive skills of a Neolithic communityArt and Art Histor