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Abstract
This dissertation focuses on fifty-five plastered skulls from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Period in the Levant, and what such skulls may suggest about a so-called ancestor cult ca. 8,500 years ago. Early discussions of plastered skulls excavated at Jericho in 1953 suggested that the skulls of elderly men were selected for modeling as part of an ancestor cult composed of male elders and leaders. Based on this initial interpretation, the predominant scholarly view suggested the skulls had been selected based on the sex, age, or cranial shape of the individuals. Some researchers further proposed the skulls were modified in appearance by the evulsion of all teeth and a widening of the face with plaster to produce facial features found in the elderly.
This dissertation reexamines the physical characteristics and intellectual and archaeological contexts of plastered and asphalt-decorated skulls. It attempts to test the hypothesis that these skulls were intentionally selected and modeled to produce a “gerontocracy” of skulls. It uses modern techniques to sex and age the individuals, and to check for the presence or absence of teeth. Physical and scientific reexaminations of the finds do not support claims that age, sex, or skull shape were consistent factors in the selection of skulls for special treatment. Teeth were not all intentionally removed after death. Skulls of children, as well as those of women and men, were also plastered. Any explanation of these objects must take into account that the skulls of women, children, and men were involved. Comparisons with analogously treated skulls in New Guinea and elsewhere in Melanesia are included in order to provide possible alternative reasons for the collection and decoration of skulls in the Neolithic period and to enlarge the terms of reference for the interpretation of the plastered skulls in the Levant.
