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

Abstract

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.

Domesticating gender: Neolithic patterns from the southern Levant

“…into these two categories (male/female) and begin looking for differences. Less assumption-laden methods examine the complete set of data to identify variation or clustering that may pattern in ways that define more than two groups or have attributes that cross-cut sex approximations (Kehoe, 1991;Croucher, 2008;Gopher and Orelle, 1996;Peterson, 2002;Robb, 1998). Second, the conflation can limit the archaeological imagination in the realm of interpretation.…”

“…Where once we had widespread acceptance that all representations (or at least those worth depicting and discussing) were female, and all female images were fertility goddesses (see discussion in Kehoe (1991)); we now find these same assemblages being discussed as possible reflections of fluid gender roles, ritual participants and specialists, the symbolic power associated with female and male sexuality, and the manipulation of gender images in the contexts of larger socio-political productive and reproductive agendas. While the diversity of approaches, perspectives, and opinions can be confounding, it is nonetheless refreshing after the homogenizing influence of the ''Goddess" (Bailey, 2005;Gopher and Orelle, 1996;Chesson, 2005, 2007;Lesure, 2002Lesure, , 2007Meskell, 1995Meskell, , 2007Tringham and Conkey, 1998).…”

“…Interestingly, representations from Levantine contexts sometimes disregarded all anatomical features that provide recognizable clues about sex. Other times, figurative images have ambiguous primary and secondary sexual characteristics, and in other cases sexual characteristics may be combined to generate dual-sexed images (Croucher, 2008;Gopher and Orelle, 1996;Chesson, 2005, 2007;Kuijt and Goring-Morris, 2002;Miller, 2002;Schmandt-Besserat, 1998;Verhoeven, 2004). This variation has been interpreted as indicative of: (1) more fluid and multi-faceted gender roles in the Neolithic past (Croucher, 2008), (2) a material reflection of efforts to mask, or limit, potential social differentiation Chesson, 2005, 2007), and (3) ambiguous imagery being used as a social commentary on illicit, unsavory behavior (Gopher and Orelle, 1996).…”

“…And there are also examples of figurines with dual-sex connotations (Fig. 4) (Croucher, 2008;Gopher and Orelle, 1996;Kuijt and Chesson, 2005;Kuijt and Goring-Morris, 2002;Verhoeven, 2004). There are also numerous examples of recognizably male and female figurines (Banning, 1998;Cauvin, 1997;Chesson, 2005, 2007;Yizraeli-Noy, 1999).…”

The function of Early Natufian grooved basalt artefacts from el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel: Preliminary results of a use-wear analysis

“…Previous studies have attributed various symbolic meanings to the grooved items from Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the southern Levant and linked them with the realms of cult and magic (Stekelis 1972: 36;Gopher & Orrelle 1996;Hermansen 1997;Cauvin 2000: 48). Recently it has been claimed that similar items were part of the bead manufacturing process in the Neolithic (Wright et al 2008: Fig.…”