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Chronology of the southern Levant. Dates calibrated using INTCAL 98. Figures are rounded off to the nearest 25 years.
Source publication
From their research in Jordan, the authors show that the appearance of early farming and herding communities in western Asia coincided with a large expansion in stone bead production. This reflects a new social role for personal ornament.
Context in source publication
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Citations
... By the PPNB, ornament makers worked with an even wider variety of materials than noted in previous periods. This includes increased diversity of stone, with a preference for the color green, including beads made from green Dabba marble in eastern Jordan (Wright and Garrard, 2003), malachite and rosasite from pre-pottery deposits at Yiftahel in Israel (Garfinkel, 1987), and amazonite in sites from southern Jordan (Fabiano et al., 2004). Some researchers have suggested this color preference may symbolize the importance of agriculture or a preoccupation with fertility more broadly (Bar-Yosef Mayer and Porat, 2008). ...
The body is a site of lived experience as people engage their social, cultural, and physical worlds through their bodies. As a product of both nature and culture, it can be modified to fulfil, challenge, or rebel against ideals and expectations. While not all the ways in which humans modify their bodies leave traces in the archaeological record, the use of personal ornaments is well documented. In this paper, we focus on the practice of body modification through personal adornment in the context of the neolithisation of the southern Levant. We argue that shifting subsistence strategies, settlement patterns, and social relationships (including relationships with ancestors) necessitated new ways of being in the world that were manifested in and through material culture including personal ornaments. In the Neolithic, living bodies did not need to be present for an individual to have a social "life" and personal ornaments as heirlooms likely played a fundamental and complementary role in "presencing" a person who would otherwise be absent.
... The former also discuss the symbolic significance of 'green' in belief systems with regards the emergence of agriculture. Apart from the beads and pendants (Wright et al., 2008;Wright and Garrard, 2003), this is vividly illustrated especially at Nahal Hemar, where such colourful pigments were powdered and then applied to organic materials (wood and bone) and stone items that elsewhere are hardly, if at all, preserved (Bar-Yosef, 1985;Ibáñez et al., 2010, Fig . 6) (Fig. 6). ...
With the onset of the Near Eastern Neolithic during the 12th millennium cal BP, and thereafter, one can observe growing sedentary tendencies, as well a significant increase in populations and community sizes, all reflected in the Neolithic demographic transition. At that time (and even somewhat earlier in certain areas) a notable tendency for within and between community differentiation was observed, archaeologically visible through the variances in the material remains. A specific domain where this phenomenon can be observed are the easily portable items of adornment. The aspiration for symbolling and signaling at both the community level and the individual served to increase webs of interactions and exchange between communities, sometimes over huge distances. The differences and the similarities actually reflected the degree and intensity of connectivity between the communities far and wide.
... Craft specialisation is furthermore no longer seen as a purely economic activity, but also as a mode of production entangled with social dimensions. In the recent literature more attention has therefore been given to identifying the social roles of the craft specialists and the use of craft products as an active agent in the shaping of symbolic codes shared by different socio-political actors [8][9][10][11]. ...
... Wright et al.'s study [11,41] of the Late PPNB/PPNC bead production workshop at Wadi Jilat 13 and 25 led them to suggest that the emergence of nuclear households, fully-fledged food-producing economies, and increasing social complexity, resulted in the appearance of specialised bead makers. They argued that beads became an important means to construct and assert social identities towards the end of the PPNB, which fuelled and resulted in the emergence of specialist production centres as well as household specialisation. ...
... Bead making at Shubayqa 6 (northeast Jordan) developed by Wright & Garrard [11] supplemented in some cases by additional categories drawn from Beck [57], Bains [58], and Bar-Yosef Mayer [33]. The vast majority is defined as disc beads in both finished and unfinished forms. ...
The emergence of craft specialisation is a key area of interest for archaeologists investigating the socio-economic history and development of past societies. In southwest Asia, as elsewhere, the origins of craft specialisation have been associated with the emergence of surplus food production, households and social stratification. We present evidence for nascent skilled production of green stone beads at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site Shubayqa 6, northeast Jordan. Thousands of pieces of debitage, roughouts and finished beads exhibit signs of standardised production that was probably geared towards exchange. This hints towards incipient skilled craft production that was likely part-time and seasonal. We therefore argue that the appearance of specialist artisans in this autonomous and non-hierarchical society has no correlation with surplus food production, households, or social stratification.
... Other shells that were extensively manipulated, were sometimes fashioned into geometric forms, resembling beads made of various other materials during the same period. Beads made of minerals and stone [87,[130][131][132], and more rarely of plaster [133][134][135], wood [136], coral [137], or bone [138] (and particularly at Basta), were discovered in multiple PPNB sites in the Levant. They were occasionally shaped into forms also found made of shell, such as disc-beads, double-holed ovals, or rings/bangles [130: fig. ...
People tend to belong to multiple social circles, which construct and reflect a person’s social identity. Group affiliation is embodied and may be expressed by personal adornment. Personal adornment in general has multiple functions in human societies, among them the assimilation and transmission of different aspects of personal and collective, social and cultural identity. Beads in general, including shell beads, often constitute parcels of composite adornment, and as such are used in different configurations to portray these messages. The shared use of similar bead types by different individuals and communities indicates the mutual affiliation of the sharing parties to the same cultural circles and reflects social ties and relationships. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period in the Levant is a time of pivotal changes to human lifeways necessitating profound adjustments in all aspects of life, including social relations and networks. Here we use the shell bead assemblage from the cultic-mortuary aggregation site of Kfar HaHoresh, in comparison to shell bead assemblages from multiple other sites in the Levant, as a proxy for the exploration of local and regional networks and connections between PPNB communities. Multivariate analyses of shell bead type distribution patterns across the Levant demonstrate that some types were widely shared among different communities, characterising different geographic regions, while others were rare or unique, highlighting relationships between sites and regions, which are occasionally independent of geographic proximity. Specific occurrences of shared shell bead types between Kfar HaHoresh and compared sites further illuminate the web of connections between PPNB communities in the Levant and the varying breadths of sharing-patterns reflect the hierarchical nature of the underlying social circles. Outlining these widening social affiliations sheds light on the complex structure of Neolithic social identity.
... Does this choice reflect the status of the dead, special hunting activities, or is it intended to symbolise the management power of this community over wild species, enabling it to master domestication? Numerous aspects including wild animal offerings, the large-scale use of green coloured stone for the manufacture of stone implements and beads, and the use of a granary-like structure to house the dead are very suggestive of ritual and symbolism most likely linked with the onset of agriculture and domestication (Wright and Garrard 2003). ...
... Furthermore, the use of the colour green is a characteristic trait of the PPNA and the Early PPNB. The choice of this colour might relate to its role in relation to the theme of fertility and possibly the birth of agriculture (Wright and Garrard 2003;Raad and Makarewicz 2019). It is hoped that further detailed analysis on the origins of the minerals used in the manufacture of stone beads and other implements will bring additional data not only on the sources of the raw materials used but also on the coastal trade networks that may have existed in the Levant during the PPNB. ...
... 18 It is suggested here that this unique mortuary area was dedicated to a population of adults probably of both sexes. Moreover, the latest phase of TWS41, that of the 'configured clusters' and the funeral pyre with its rich assemblage of grave goods may have belonged to a social group involved in bead making hence possibly reflecting social differentiation and craft specialisation (Wright and Garrard 2003). It is hoped that future DNA analysis on the human bones will be able to confirm the existence of any kin relationships among the buried. ...
The discovery of a unique Early-Middle PPNB funerary area in Tabarja Wata Slam 41 (TWS41) involving a complex burial sequence comprising both primary and secondary burials in addition to special arrangement of bones and a large number of grave goods brings substantial data on the mortuary practices of the Neolithic communities which inhabited the Lebanese coast.
... In terms of morphotypes, all the beads pertain to a repertoire fundamentally Neolithic, coherent with the LPPNB ornamental spectra e.g. [130][131][132][133][134][135]. Although certain functional types have appeared in earlier Epi-Paleolithic times [73] such as disc beads and double perforated pendants, attested for the final Natufian in the Levant [81,132,134], long perforations drilled in compact dense materials such as stones and shell bulks to create long beads appears to be a Neolithic innovation (Alarashi et al. submitted). ...
In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba`ja, a Neolithic village (7,400-6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan. Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba`ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. In this sense, the necklace is not seen as belonging completely to the realm of death but rather to the world of the living, materializing a collective memory and shared moments of emotions and social cohesion.
... Similarly, the language used in ornament studies -access and availability, procurement, production, specialisation, skill, apprenticeship, full/part time and the acceptance of degrees of knowledge and specialisation in our discussion of various levels of skill -forms the basis for interpretation and knowledge building (e.g., Micheli, 2012b;Ridout-Sharpe, 2015;Wright & Garrard, 2003). Each of these terms relates to economic conditions, which are used to interpret likely decisionmaking processes in the past. ...
Research on prehistoric personal ornaments has focused on patterns in materials, technology and processes of change but struggles to place human thought and action at the centre of interpretation. However, striking examples of variations in production, altered and mended ornaments and different levels of skill visible in the quality of finished products, and subsequent adjustments made to them are a recurring feature of archaeological ornament assemblages. In addition to regional data on preferences for types and materials, the movement of ornaments between locations and interregional influences, this evidence provides crucial clues about choices, individual makers, and perceptions of the learning process. This article asks to what extent decision-making, individual levels of skill and the expectations surrounding learning or knowledge transmission can be successfully identified and interpreted using the often-limited information available from prehistoric assemblages. Examples taken from Neolithic assemblages in Turkey are used to explore the mutually shaping human-ornament relationship, intention, expectations of normality and divergence from expectation in the production of ornament assemblages. Ornaments are found to be subject to structured and unstructured adjustments within complex biographies and an active area of individual interpretation of shared concepts.
... Especially pronounced is the emphasis upon greenish/bluish raw materials (Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2010;Bar-Yosef Mayer and Porat, 2008). These included the greenish Dabba marble/Hatrurim formation deposits on both sides of the Dead Sea ( Wright and Garrard, 2003;Wright et al., 2008), as well as turquoise, malachite, amazonite and chrysocolla (Alarashi, 2016;Bar-Yosef and Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2002;Spatz, 2017;Thuesen and Kinzel, 2018). Sources of turquoise are located in the Umm Bugma area of western Sinai, while malachite is present in the Timna and Fidan areas on both flanks of the Wadi Arava, as well as in the mountains west of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. ...
Networking during the early stages of the Levantine Neolithic appears to have been encouraged by increasing demands for exotics, i.e. non-local commodities. The actual exchange of merchandise stimulated also transmission of knowledge, i.e. innovations. Together these were instrumental in affecting the social fabric of society. It appears that specific geographic settings as well as large-scale communal edifices played a pivotal role in sustaining and promoting Neolithic networking.
... By token of their small size, they could change hands easily, while their aesthetic and symbolic value rendered them economically effective [1]. Notably, beads fulfill various functions [1][2][3][4] and are often considered markers of identity, social status, and even economic progress and stability [5,6]. ...
Eight olivine beads found at the Middle Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf (ca. 5,200-4,700 cal. BC), Jordan Valley, Israel, underscore a new facet of interregional exchange for this period. The current paper presents the olivine beads assemblage, its morphometric and technological characteristics, and chemical composition. The results of the chemical analysis suggest that all eight beads derive from the same source. By means of comparison with the chemical characteristics of known olivine sources, we argue for a northeastern African-western Ara-bian provenience and cautiously suggest Ethiopia as a probable origin. Finally, we discuss the significance of the assemblage, its possible origin, and the mechanisms that may have brought the beads to the site.
... By token of their small size, they could change hands easily, while their aesthetic and symbolic value rendered them economically effective [1]. Notably, beads fulfill various functions [1][2][3][4] and are often considered markers of identity, social status, and even economic progress and stability [5,6]. ...
Eight olivine beads found at the Middle Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf (ca. 5,200–4,700 cal. BC), Jordan Valley, Israel, underscore a new facet of interregional exchange for this period. The current paper presents the olivine beads assemblage, its morphometric and technological characteristics, and chemical composition. The results of the chemical analysis suggest that all eight beads derive from the same source. By means of comparison with the chemical characteristics of known olivine sources, we argue for a northeastern African–western Arabian provenience and cautiously suggest Ethiopia as a probable origin. Finally, we discuss the significance of the assemblage, its possible origin, and the mechanisms that may have brought the beads to the site.
