The Chalcolithic Period Part I: The Ghassulian
The Chalcolithic Period Begins ca. 6500 BP (5000 BC) and ends with the Early Bronze Age (ca. 5500 BP or 3500 BC) Known for: Rise of Chiefdoms Pastoral Nomadism and the Secondary Products Revolution Appearance of Metallurgy Craft Specialisation Formal temples and burial grounds Spatial and social hierarchies
The Chalcolithic Period Chalcolithic Cultures Dates (BP) Type Site Levant: Early Chalcolithic (aka Late Neolithic) ca. 6800-6200 Wadi Rabah and variants Middle Chalcolithic Late Chalcolithic (aka Ghassulian) Mesopotamia: Halafian Ubaid ca. 6200-5600 (No dates) ca. 5800-4600 ca. 7200-6200 ca. Beth Shean, Tell Ali Teleilat al-ghassul Tell Halaf & Arpachiyah Oueili, Abada, others Anatolia: Chalcolithic ca. 6000-5000 Hacilar, Can Hasan
Chalcolithic Sites in the Levant Sites to Know: Teleilat al-ghassul EinGedi Ain al-hariri Bir as-safedi Beer Sheba Shiqmim Gilat Azor Hadera
Chiefdoms in the Chalcolithic Establishment of social ranking and hierarchies Distinctive social system defined by the presence of centres which coordinate economic, social, and religious activities (Service 1962) Descriptive, not Neo-evolutionary Redistributional societies with permanent central agency of coordination Ranked or ascribed status? (burial treatment)
Characterised by: Chiefdoms Institutionalised offices of leadership, such as priesthoods and a ranked society Greater population densities and total population Increased size of residence groups (not nuclear) Greater productivity and Craft Specialisation Clearly defined territories, with boundaries/borders Centres that coordinate activities Redistribution (organised by a chief) Organisation and deployment of public labour No true government (administration, legal force)
Ein Gedi Temple
Chalcolithic Temples Ein Gedi Isolated and inaccessible No settlement nearby pilgrimage location? Temple Complex = 4 separate structures all connected by stone fence enclosing courtyard (main gatehouse, postern or secondary gate, lateral chamber, and the sanctuary) Courtyard full of circular pits (ash, bone) sacrifices Sanctuary broad-room, benches, alter with standing stone As society became more territorial, religion became more tied to places
Ein Gedi Temple
Ein Gedi Temple
Ein Gedi Temple Priest s House Temple Interior Circular water (?) basin
Formal Cemeteries Establishment of burial grounds apart from settlement origins on Natufian or Late Neolithic? Grew from more clearly defined territorial boundaries, centres that coordinate religious activities, importance of ritual coordinators (priests), and organisation and deployment of public labour to build monuments Burial grounds represent space owned by a corporate group who use and have rights to specific resources contained within it
Burial Practices Four areas with cemeteries: lower JV/Moab Plateau, Sharon Coastal Plain, southern Sinai Peninsula, Nahal Beer-Sheba Necropolis in Jordan Valley Tell Adeimeh (6 km southeast Ghassul, Neuville 1929) for Ghassul 11 circular tumuli between 3.5-7 m diameter 168 cist graves of 1.5 m each, dolmens Skeletal remains poorly preserved (close to surface), but all secondary burial Burial Caves of Coastal Plain (Hadera, Azor) Man-made caves in kurkar ridge filled with large ceramic ossuaries, Chalcolithic pottery, skeletal remains Secondary burials now commonplace at coastal sites
Hadera and Azor Ossuaries
Burial Practices Burials of northern Negev (Shiqmim) 8 ha cemetery adjacent to village 40 burial circles 1-3.5 m in size filled with secondary burials, pottery, shell and mother-of-pearl jewellery, V-shaped bowls 10 stone-lined pits or cists surrounded group of circular graves on hilltop decay pits or burial structure? House-shaped ossuaries identical to those from Sharon plain Nawamis of Sinai Stone-structures (pic) built in 4 th millennium BC and used by pastorals for burial Rounded plan, 3-6 m diameter and 2 m high, double-walled, local sandstone, variety burial offerings (beads, pendants, transverse arrowheads, copper point), both primary and secondary burials Entries directed towards sacred landscape feature or winter sunset winter grazing areas of pastorals
Burial Structures: Shiqmim and Sinai Shiqmim cemetery Elaboration of burial monument as mark of social status