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LATE NEOLITHIC POTTERY
AND AMBIGUOUS SYMBOLS
IN THE SOUTHERN LEVANT
K. GIBBS
Abstract: Compared to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), evidence for potentially symbolic imagery is rare in the Late Neolithic of the
Southern Levant, consisting primarily of figurines and decorated pottery. While the symbolic roles of figurines have occasionally been
discussed, studies of decorated pottery have usually focused on developing chronologies or defining the boundaries of archaeological
cultures. In an attempt to better understand pottery symbolism this paper suggests that over the course of the Late Neolithic pottery
decoration became more varied but also became simpler. These developments may reflect an increase of symbolic ambiguity. The
decline in figurine use over the course of the Late Neolithic similarly suggests a focus on ambiguous symbols during the later part of
the period. A tentative suggestion is that this shift may be related to a change in community organization. Some early Late Neolithic
sites are relatively large and each one may have comprised a single, spatially contiguous community. In the later part of the period, at
least in some areas, community groups may have been dispersed across several small sites. A symbolic system emphasizing ambiguity
may have facilitated the occasional interactions that were a part of such dispersed communities.
Résumé : Dans la région du Levant Sud, les témoins potentiels d’une imagerie symbolique sont peu nombreux au Néolithique récent,
contrairement au Néolithique précéramique B, et se composent principalement de figurines et de poterie décorée. Si le rôle symbolique
des figurines a parfois été abordé par les chercheurs, les études portant sur la poterie décorée ont surtout servi à la mise en place de
chronologies et à la définition de cultures archéologiques. Afin de mieux comprendre le rôle symbolique joué par la poterie, le présent
article suggère que le décor des céramiques s’est non seulement diversifié, mais également simplifié tout au long du Néolithique récent.
Ces développements pourraient être le reflet d’une ambiguïté symbolique croissante. Une diminution de l’utilisation des figurines au
cours du Néolithique récent pourrait aussi refléter une nouvelle préférence pour les symboles ambigus à la fin de cette période. Il est
possible qu’une telle transformation soit reliée à un changement dans l’organisation sociale des communautés qui est perceptible
à la même époque. Au début du Néolithique récent quelques sites très étendus suggèrent l’occupation d’un espace contigu par des
communautés entières, tandis que la fin du Néolithique récent voit une dispersion des communautés entre plusieurs petits sites,
au moins dans certaines régions. Un système symbolique mettant l’accent sur l’ambiguïté a pu faciliter les interactions sociales
épisodiques que nécessitait une telle dispersion des communautés.
Keywords: Levant; Late Neolithic; Pottery; Figurines; Symbolism; Communities.
Mots-clés : Levant ; Néolithique récent ; Poterie ; Figurines ; Symbolisme ; Communautés.
INTRODUCTION
Evidence for potentially symbolic imagery is relatively rare
in the Late Neolithic (or Pottery Neolithic) of the Southern
Levant (ca 6500-5200 cal. BC) (fig. 1). While the preceding
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period has produced examples
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of human statuary, figurines, plastered human skulls and stone
masks (Kuijt and Goring-Morris 2002), in the Late Neolithic
potentially symbolic imagery is limited largely to figurines and
decorated pottery (Verhoeven 2002). Although several scholars
have commented on the possible symbolic meanings of figurines
and their roles in Late Neolithic society (e.g., Garfinkel et al.
Manuscrit reçu le 2 mai 2012, accepté le 12 juin 2013
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K. GIBBS
have facilitated a shift to a more dispersed system of community
organization in the later part of the Late Neolithic.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fig. 1 – Map of Southern Levant showing Late Neolithic sites
mentioned in the text.
2010; Gopher and Orrelle 1996; Miller 2002; Stekelis 1972),
studies of decorated pottery have more often focused on developing chronologies and defining the boundaries of cultural
groups. Considerations of the social or symbolic roles of pottery
and the potential meanings pottery decoration communicated
within Late Neolithic communities are rare.
In fact, identifying the specific symbolic meanings of particular designs or decorative motifs on Late Neolithic pottery
may be extremely difficult and, indeed, it is probably wrong to
assume that any symbol in the Late Neolithic had a single fixed
meaning. However, by examining the development of decorated
pottery within a wider social context it may be possible to gain
some insight into its symbolic roles and how these changed over
time, even if it is not possible to comment on specific meanings
(Campbell 2010). Without trying to interpret the specific meanings of decorative motifs, this paper suggests that pottery symbolism became more ambiguous over the course of the southern
Levantine Late Neolithic. It considers the possibility that this
change gave Late Neolithic people the potential to interpret the
symbols of community identity in different ways. This may
This paper discusses pottery from Late Neolithic sites
in the Southern Levant, relying on published data as well as
evidence from sites in Wadi Ziqlab, Northern Jordan. It is
restricted to a discussion of decorated pots because these may
have played particular ritual or symbolic roles (Verhoeven
2002). Furthermore, decorated pots are often better represented than undecorated vessels in published reports resulting
in a greater availability of data. It is worth noting, however,
that it is somewhat artificial to separate decorated and undecorated pottery in discussions of pottery’s social and utilitarian
roles and future research would benefit from more integrative
approaches to Late Neolithic pottery.
I consider the degree of variability of decoration types
within two phases of the Late Neolithic as well as the complexity of decorative motifs. While statistical methods can be
used to assess the degree of variability in pottery design (e.g.,
Graves 1994) the general lack of suitable quantifiable data
from Late Neolithic sites renders these kinds of analyses problematic. As a result, I rely on more general observations of the
types of decorations present in each phase. While this is far
from ideal, it may provide a useful step towards understanding
the significance of variation in Late Neolithic pottery decoration. Similarly, the complexity of decorative motifs is assessed
by general observations as noted by others (e.g., Kerner 2001).
Ideally, a comparison of two phases of the Late Neolithic will
be based on stratified sites where both phases are present. This
would help to eliminate some of the issues that can arise when
comparisons are made between sites, such as researchers having
different ways of classifying and quantifying pottery, and differential levels of preservation between sites. However, few sites in
the Southern Levant span multiples phases of the Late Neolithic
period. Munhata is an exception and, importantly, pottery from
the site has been published (Garfinkel 1992 and 1999), so I rely
heavily on that site in this paper. It should be mentioned, however, that in some pit contexts at Munhata pottery was assigned a
phase (Yarmukian or Wadi Rabah) depending on its typological
characteristics rather than its stratigraphic context. Also, data
is not available for pits that were perceived to have a ‘mixed’
pottery assemblage (Garfinkel 1992: 19). This may have some
implications for understanding change in pottery decoration as
potentially transitional contexts may be overlooked. The site of
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Late Neolithic Pottery and Ambiguous Symbols in the Southern Levant
Sha’ar Hagolan is also considered as it is broadly contemporary with the earliest phase of occupation at Munhata. It was
analysed using a comparable approach; and published data is
available (Garfinkel 1999; Garfinkel and Miller 2002). I also
refer to evidence from two sites in Wadi Ziqlab, al-Basatîn and
Tabaqat al-Bûma. These sites both date to the later part of the
Late Neolithic (e.g., Banning et al. 2011; Gibbs et al. 2010).
LATE NEOLITHIC DECORATED POTTERY
In addition to its symbolic imagery, the southern Levantine
Pre-Pottery Neolithic is well known for its contributions to the
origins of sedentism and agriculture, and for the later emergence of ‘mega-sites’ with populations estimated in the thousands (Kuijt and Goring-Morris 2002; Simmons 2007; Twiss
2007). While the Pre-Pottery Neolithic has generally been
viewed as a period of increasing material and cultural complexity, the Late Neolithic has often been interpreted as a reversal
to a less complex way of life characterized by smaller agricultural settlements and, perhaps, groups of nomadic pastoralists.
Kenyon (1970: 60), for example, described the Late Neolithic
occupants of Jericho as foreigners who brought about ‘a great
retrogression’. Although some have pointed out that this picture of the Late Neolithic is coloured largely by biases in the
history of Neolithic research (Banning et al. 1994; Garfinkel
and Miller 2002; Simmons 2007: 199), study of the period
remains underdeveloped compared to the seemingly more
socially, symbolically, and technologically complex PPNB.
The introduction of pottery is the most obvious technological advancement of the Late Neolithic and pottery has figured prominently in attempts to define Late Neolithic cultural
groups and to date archaeological sites (e.g., Garfinkel 1999).
A general cultural framework consisting of three cultural
groups—the Yarmukian, Jericho IX, and Wadi Rabah—was
established by the 1950s and has changed little since (BenDor 1936; Kaplan 1958; Stekelis 1972). In this framework the
Yarmukian is the earliest pottery using group, dating roughly
to the second half of the 7th millennium cal. BC. Dating the
Jericho IX is more problematic due to a scarcity of radiocarbon dates from relevant sites. It may be somewhat later than
the Yarmukian but the degree of temporal overlap is unclear
(Banning 2007). The Wadi Rabah group is the latest, dating to
the 6th millennium cal. BC (Banning 2007).
Some sites have produced pottery assemblages that have
resisted assignment to neat cultural groupings and there is sometimes disagreement about how particular assemblages relate
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to one another. In part, this is due to the low intensity of Late
Neolithic research, which has often resulted in small, poorly
published pottery assemblages that lack supporting radiocarbon
dating evidence. However, another part of the problem may be
that clearly bounded cultural groups did not, in fact, exist in the
Late Neolithic. If so, attempts to impose rigid organizational
frameworks will ultimately prove unsuccessful no matter how
many sites are excavated and published. In this paper, I retain
the terms Yarmukian, Jericho IX, and Wadi Rabah because their
familiarity renders them convenient for representing temporal
divisions but it is important to acknowledge that the spatial and
temporal boundaries between any Late Neolithic groupings
were likely rather permeable. The diachronic changes that I
highlight in this paper should be viewed more as gradual shifts
than sudden cultural replacements.
The later part of the Late Neolithic, including sites attributed to the Wadi Rabah cultural group, has stimulated considerable debate and disagreement (Banning 2002). For example,
Gopher and Gophna (1993) attempt to differentiate ‘normative’ Wadi Rabah sites from ‘variant’ ones. Garfinkel (1999),
however, attributes many of these same variant sites to a later
‘Middle Chalcolithic’ period, which Braun (2008) has in turn
rejected. As a more specific example, many archaeologists
acknowledge that the site of Abu Hamid in the Jordan Valley
has evidence for a Wadi Rabah (or ‘variant’) occupation but
disagree on whether it is the basal-level assemblage or the
middle-level assemblage (Banning 2007; Lovell et al. 2007).
In general, Wadi Rabah pottery assemblages contain a
range of vessel shapes, including deep and shallow bowls with
rounded, straight, flaring, inverted or carinated profiles; platters and large bowls; pedestalled bowls (or chalices); pithoi;
and a range of jars, including necked and holemouth jars. A
jar with a bow-rim is considered characteristic of Wadi Rabah
assemblages. Pots have a wide range of decorative treatments
including slipped, burnished, incised, impressed, combed,
painted and applied motifs (fig. 2) (Garfinkel 1999; Gopher
and Gophna 1993).
In contrast to the later part of the Late Neolithic, there
tends to be more agreement about what pottery assemblages
should be classified as “Yarmukian” or “Jericho IX”, although
the nature of the relationship between these two earlier groups
is itself somewhat unclear. Yarmukian and Jericho IX assemblages consist of a range of vessel shapes including a variety
of bowls and cups, chalices, platters, basins, pithoi, necked jars
and holemouth jars (Garfinkel 1999; Gopher and Gophna 1993).
While the majority of Yarmukian sherds are either undecorated
or have evidence of a red slip or paint entirely covering one
surface, some pots have evidence of a characteristic surface
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K. GIBBS
Fig. 3 – Examples of typical Yarmukian (A-D) and Jericho IX (E-F)
pottery decoration. Incised herringbone and red paint or slip (A-B),
other incised decoration (C-D), and paint with burnish (E-F). Further examples can be observed in Garfinkel (1999).
Fig. 2 – Examples of Wadi Rabah decoration. A-C) combed; D-E)
incised; F-G) stylus-impressed; H) comb-impressed; I) painted.
Further examples can be observed in Garfinkel (1999).
treatment consisting of a combination of straight or zigzag
incised frames, typically filled in with incisions in a herringbone pattern (fig. 3). These bands are often adjacent to fields or
bands of red paint or slip. The primary distinguishing feature
of Jericho IX pottery is the dominance of red painted and burnished bands, zigzags and triangles on a cream or pale pink
slip. It should be noted that incised decoration does occur in
limited amounts in Jericho IX pottery assemblages just as small
numbers of painted motifs occur in Yarmukian assemblages.
Although the proportion of incised versus painted decoration
is different between Yarmukian and Jericho IX assemblages,
many of the motifs are similar, especially the prevalence of
‘V’ shapes, triangles, bands and zigzags, perhaps indicating a
degree of cultural overlap or permeable cultural boundaries.
Accepting the difficulties with attributing specific Late
Neolithic pottery assemblages to rigid cultural groupings,
especially during the later part of the period, in this paper I
want to draw attention to two general developments in pottery
decoration that seem to have occurred between the earlier part
of the Late Neolithic and the later part, apart from the differences in the actual motifs and techniques used. First, the range
of decorative techniques and motifs appears to increase over
time. Given the nature of available datasets this is somewhat
difficult to quantify and pottery decoration can be described
and grouped in different ways. Nevertheless, decoration in
the earlier part of the Late Neolithic seems to be less variable. For example, at Munhata (layer 2B) Yarmukian decoration is limited primarily to slip, paint and incisions (table 1).
Although other motifs do occur, incised straight and zigzag
bands filled in with herringbone pattern are particularly obvious and dominant in the site’s Yarmukian assemblage. Some
sherds have the incised frames characteristic of this type of
decoration but these are left blank or filled in with short incisions rather than herringbone pattern. When taken together
these account for 42.4% of decorated sherds from layer 2B at
Munhata and 30% of decorated sherds from Sha’ar Hagolan.
Painted decoration comprises 17.9% of the decorated sherds
from layer 2B at Munhata and 9.9% of the decorated sherds
from Sha’ar Hagolan. Many of the primary motifs are similar to those found on incised pots, consisting of straight lines,
zigzag pattern, and triangles, although other motifs such as
painted dots do occur. It is worth pointing out that the actual
proportion of vessels with incised herringbone decoration
could be higher than the numbers reported by Garfinkel (1992;
Eirikh-Rose and Garfinkel 2002) if many of the red-slipped
or painted sherds initially derived from the un-incised parts of
vessels with herringbone pattern.
The motifs used to decorate Wadi Rabah pottery tend to
be more varied and new decorative techniques appear during
the later part of the Late Neolithic (Garfinkel 1999: 142-147).
Gopher and Gophna (1993: 332) recognize this “broad range”
of surface treatments as characteristic of Wadi Rabah pottery.
At Munhata, burnished, combed, impressed, roulette, and
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Late Neolithic Pottery and Ambiguous Symbols in the Southern Levant
Table 1 – Percentages of pottery decoration types at four sites
(including data from Garfinkel 1992; Eirikh-Rose and Garfinkel
2002).
Note that percentages for indented entries are also counted in the main heading for each type of decoration. An ‘x’ indicates that the decoration type is
present at a site but percentages are not available. Also note that for Munhata 2B and Sha’ar Hagolan the entries for “slip” do not include slipped and
burnished sherds, while at Munhata 2A, Tabaqat al-Bûma and al-Basatîn
the entries for “slip” include slipped sherds with or without a burnish. For
Sha’ar Hagolan the entry for burnish includes slipped sherds with or without
a burnish while at Munhata 2A, Tabaqat al-Bûma and al-Basatîn the entries
for burnish indicate sherds with a burnish and no evidence for a slip. In this
table decoration consisting of herringbone incisions within an incised frame
is combined with incised frames containing other kinds of incisions or no
incisions (under “frames”). This is due to the general similarity of technique
and primary motifs.
Decoration
Munhata
2B
Sha’ar
Hagolan
Munhata
2A
Tabaqat
al-Bûma
alBasatîn
Slip
38,6
57,9
86,4
85,7
51,0
1,7
x
4,7
0,8
0,4
0,8
x
x
Burnish
Paint
17,9
9,9
Wide painted lines
13,0
8,0
Thin painted lines
4,9
1,9
Net pattern
x
x
Incisions
43,5
30,0
3,2
2,4
Frames (includes
herringbone)
42,4
28,5
x
x
Other
1,1
1,5
Combing
Impressions
<0,4
Stylus, various
shapes
‘Fingernail’
x
Comb
4,1
x
x
x
8,3
4,4
38,1
1,0
1,2
4,8
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Roulette
Appliqué
x
x
<0,4
0,6
0,7
1,1
Table 2 – Percentages of decorated sherds within pottery assemblages at four sites. The entry for al-Basatîn is derived from the Late
Neolithic layers of one area (P33) within the site.
Sites
Yarmukian
Wadi Rabah
Munhata
12,8
6,2
Sha’ar Hagolan
15,4
Tabaqat al-Bûma (levels 3-5)
5,2
al-Basatîn (area P33)
5,3
appliqué decorations appear for the first time in Wadi Rabah
contexts (layer 2A), while slip and thin painted lines continue.
These techniques were used to apply a range of motifs. For
example, combing can be applied as straight, intersecting, or
curvilinear bands, or can cover the entire surface of a sherd.
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Impressions can be made with a comb, or with a stylus having
a triangular, round, rectangular, or ‘fingernail’ shape. Incised
herringbone pattern persists into Munhata layer 2A but according to Garfinkel (1992: 91) it is “not so closely controlled” as
Yarmukian herringbone decoration and typically is not contained within bands of incised frames. Sites in Wadi Ziqlab
dating to the later part of the Late Neolithic also show evidence for a range of decorative motifs.
The increase in decorative techniques during the later
part of the Late Neolithic cannot simply be attributed to a
greater prevalence of decoration in later assemblages. In fact,
at Munhata the proportion of decorated sherds in the pottery
assemblage actually dropped from 12.8% in the Yarmukian
levels (layer 2B) to 6.2% in the Wadi Rabah levels (layer 2A)
(Garfinkel 1992). Available data from Sha’ar Hagolan and
Wadi Ziqlab are consistent with these numbers (table 2). At the
Yarmukian site of Sha’ar Hagolan 15.4% of sherds were decorated (Garfinkel 1999: 59). At the site of Tabaqat al-Bûma,
which dates to the later part of the Late Neolithic, approximately 5.2% of sherds show evidence of decoration, although
it is worth noting that heavy carbonate deposits sometimes
obscure the surface of sherds at this site (Banning et al. 2011).
At the contemporary site of al-Basatîn it is more difficult to
quantify the overall proportion of decorated sherds in the Late
Neolithic assemblage and work is on-going. In some contexts
there is the possibility of intrusive material from later Early
Bronze (EB) deposits, particularly undecorated EB body
sherds that can sometimes be difficult to differentiate from
undecorated Late Neolithic sherds. However, in one secure
Late Neolithic context the proportion of decorated sherds is
5.3%, which is similar to Tabaqat al-Bûma and to Wadi Rabah
pottery from Munhata.
The second general development that seems to have
occurred over the course of the Late Neolithic is a shift to simpler decorative motifs during the Wadi Rabah phase. Kerner
(2001) demonstrates that typical Yarmukian decoration would
require up to six or more production steps to execute: incising parallel horizontal lines on the body of the vessel, incising parallel zig-zag lines, filling in each of the resultant bands
with herringbone pattern, painting the adjacent areas while
leaving the herringbone-incised zones unpainted, and adding
additional decoration to other parts of the vessel. In contrast,
Wadi Rabah vessels would only require two to four production
steps, such as the application of slip and burnish over the entire
surface of a vessel or decorating with fields of small impressions (Kerner 2001).
How might we account for these shifts? One could argue
that a greater range of decorative motifs in the later part of
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the Late Neolithic could result from communities becoming
increasingly isolated and cultural ties breaking down; however,
there is little evidence for this. Indeed, Goren’s (1992) petrographic analysis of Late Neolithic ceramics from Munhata
shows an increase of non-local pottery during the site’s Wadi
Rabah phase. Evidence for longer-distance contacts also occur
at some sites attributed to the Wadi Rabah cultural group, such
as the chlorite bowls found at Hagoshrim that were likely manufactured in the Northern Levant or Anatolia (Rosenberg et
al. 2010).
Another possibility is that changes in decoration relate to
increasing craft specialization. The possibility of kiln-made
Wadi Rabah pottery may support this (e.g., Goren 1992: 341)
although more evidence is needed to demonstrate this conclusively, such as the excavation of kiln structures. At any rate,
at some sites the fine black and red-burnished wares that are
seen as evidence for kiln-made pottery are relatively rare;
at Tabaqat al-Bûma, for example, these make up only about
1% of the ceramic assemblage. It seems possible, then, that
much pottery production was not specialized and remained at
the level of the household even if kilns were sometimes used.
Kerner (2001 and 2010) also considers increasing craft specialization in her explanation for the overall simplification of
pottery decoration during the later part of the Late Neolithic.
She suggests that as a result of increasing specialization pottery became more standardized over time due to an increase
in production efficiency, with the decoration of Wadi Rabah
pottery requiring fewer production steps to complete when
compared to earlier Yarmukian pottery. However, although
Wadi Rabah decoration was simpler in that it involved fewer
discrete steps to produce, it is not clear that its execution would
always require an overall lower investment of time, especially
the extensive burnishing and fields of small impressions that
occur on some Wadi Rabah pots. Moreover, the suggestion of
increased standardization does not easily explain the wider
range of decorative motifs that seems to occur on Wadi Rabah
pottery.
It may be useful, then, to consider decorative changes in
terms of pottery’s potential symbolic function. In the Southern
Levant there have been few attempts to include pottery in
interpretations of Late Neolithic symbolic imagery, with more
emphasis being placed on figurines (Simmons 2007: 217-219;
see below). Goren and Gopher (1995) do emphasize the symbolic potential of early pottery in their discussion of changing pottery fabrics over the course of the Late Neolithic. They
point out that early pottery was often made using calcareous
pastes. Although these pastes were not particularly efficient
for the production of cooking pots, Gopher and Goren suggest
K. GIBBS
that they were intentionally selected because they resulted in
light-coloured vessels that were conducive to being decorated
with symbolically important designs in slip or paint. They
note a decrease in calcareous pastes over the course of the
Late Neolithic and presumably a decrease in pottery’s symbolic potential. However, even during the later part of the Late
Neolithic, light-coloured calcareous pastes dominate, comprising 64% of Wadi Rabah pottery (Goren and Gopher 1995: 24).
Gopher and Goren (1995) only hint at the specific messages
symbolized by Late Neolithic pottery decoration. Orrelle and
Gopher (2000) make a more explicit attempt to interpret
the meanings of this symbolism, which they use to explain
changes in decoration over time. They suggest that pottery
imagery reflects Late Neolithic gender roles, which complements their earlier interpretation of Late Neolithic figurines
(Gopher and Orrelle 1996). Their interpretation of Yarmukian
pottery emphasizes incised and painted zigzag and ‘V’ motifs,
bands filled in with herringbone or ‘nested V’ incisions, and
the red colour of the paint. Looking to Palaeolithic imagery
as an analogy, they argue that the repeated ‘V’ or triangle
motifs on Yarmukian pottery represent female genitalia while
red paint represents menstrual blood. Significantly, a single
Yarmukian vessel could have multiple ‘V’ motifs, thus representing multiple females. Their discussion of pottery decoration from Wadi Rabah sites calls attention to both the lack of
repeated ‘V’ motifs and the high proportion of decoration on
the rims of Wadi Rabah vessels, typically as a band of red slip
or paint around the orifice (Orrelle and Gopher 2000). Like
the red paint and ‘V’ motifs on Yarmukian pottery they suggest that the decorated rim symbolizes a menstruating vulva;
they state that:
“It is possible, for example, that the decorative transition
from the Yarmukian triangle/vulvae arranged in a unified
pattern to the single isolated, Wadi Raba vulva symbols on the
woman pot, represent a deliberately altered use of the vulva
symbol from one of solidarity to one of isolation. By extension
this may imply that the view of menstruation changed from one
of empowering to that of polluting” (p. 302).
Orrelle and Gopher’s attempt to explicitly discuss the symbolic value of pottery decoration and to integrate it into a wider
symbolic context is laudable. However, the specific meanings
attributed to particular decorative motifs (e.g., ‘V’ = vulva, red
= blood) are debatable and the system of communication suggested by their study is perhaps overly rigid. Moreover, while
their discussion could contribute to understanding why particular pottery motifs become simpler over time (i.e., moving away
from complex motifs that represent multiple women) it does
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Late Neolithic Pottery and Ambiguous Symbols in the Southern Levant
not directly consider the greater diversity of decorative motifs
found on pottery dating to the later part of the Late Neolithic.
AMBIGUOUS SYMBOLS
Gopher and Goren (1995) and Orrelle and Gopher (2000)
demonstrate the potential for addressing symbolism in discussions of southern Levantine Late Neolithic pottery, including
why pottery decoration changed over the course of the Late
Neolithic. However, they do not entirely account for the two
general shifts suggested above—an increase in variability of
decorative motifs during the later part of the period, and a
shift to simpler designs. Here I offer a different suggestion that
emphasizes symbolic potential in terms of these general trends
rather than looking for more specific or rigid meanings for
particular decorative motifs. I suggest that these developments
reflect an increase in the ambiguity of pottery symbolism. In
other words, the symbolic messages—whatever they may have
been—conveyed by the less varied and more complex decoration on Yarmukian and Jericho IX pots were relatively fixed,
while Wadi Rabah symbolism had a greater potential range of
meanings. This increase in symbolic ambiguity is reflected in
the greater variability observed within and among Wadi Rabah
pottery assemblages and in the simpler motifs used to decorate
Wadi Rabah pots.
In fact, all material symbols contain an element of ambiguity.
As Cohen (1985: 21) notes, “Symbols are effective because they
are imprecise”. Symbols may be meant to communicate some
meaning, but this meaning emerges through engagements with
people rather than being inherent in the symbol itself (Thomas
1996: 97-98; Robb 1998: 337-339). A person’s experiences affect
how meanings are interpreted, making symbols potentially
polyvalent or multi-referential. However, a more rigid symbolic
framework that includes a narrower range of regularly repeated
imagery may serve to focus one’s interpretation to a more fixed
intended meaning, leaving less room for interpretation.
This perspective recalls McLuhan’s (1964) distinction
between “hot” and “cool” media. McLuhan is perhaps better
known for coining the phrase “the medium is the message”
which he used to explore the impacts of new technologies or
media: “The ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the
change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human
affairs” (McLuhan 1964: 24). The significance of a technology, then, is not simply how it is used, but rather, how its introduction or development impacts and shapes people’s lives and
their environments. In the case of prehistoric pottery, the spe-
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cific foods and other products that were cooked, processed or
stored in pots were of less importance than the ways pottery
shaped scheduling patterns, and altered economic and social
strategies. In viewing technologies in this way McLuhan’s
work may be compatible with recent studies of materiality and
other archaeological approaches that emphasize the relationship between people and things (e.g., Hodder 2012).
McLuhan recognized that material technologies (or media)
play a crucial role in forming social environments but he suggested that the level of human participation in the dynamic
between people and things was variable, with some media
encouraging little participation and others requiring more. To
him, a “hot” medium is one that provides abundant information and therefore requires little participation on the part of the
human “audience”. In contrast, “cool” media contain little information and therefore encourage more participation. This allows
more flexibility in the ways cool media are approached and interpreted; in other words, cool media are more ambiguous. The
greater range of human engagement permitted by cool media is
less likely to exclude particular perspectives or interpretations.
In McLuhan’s terms, Yarmukian and Jericho IX pottery
decoration could be described as relatively “hot” while Wadi
Rabah pottery is comparatively “cool”. As a more ambiguous
symbol, Wadi Rabah pottery decoration would be potentially
more inclusive of a wider range of interpretations. It is worth
stressing here that in this context the medium that is changing
is pottery decoration, rather than pottery itself. At present it
is difficult to say how the impact of pottery technology more
generally developed over the course of the Late Neolithic.
The introduction of new methods of production (e.g., kilns,
moulds) has been proposed (e.g., Goren 1992: 341; Yannai
1997) but more research is needed to assess the evidence for
these changes and their potential impacts on Late Neolithic
society. For this reason this discussion is restricted to pottery
decoration as a distinct medium with its own developmental
trajectory over the course of the Late Neolithic.
Ambiguous symbols have been discussed by archaeologists
and ethnoarchaeologists working in other contexts. For example, in a discussion of the British Neolithic, Thomas (2005)
notes the prevalence of ambiguous symbols, including decorated Grooved Ware pottery:
“These symbols had associations that were fully
understood, but their meanings were ambiguous and multiple,
and that ambiguity or polyvalence was the source of their
efficacy as tools of ritual practice” (p. 173).
He suggests the emphasis on ambiguous symbols may
help to explain the scarcity of depictions of the human form
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in the British Neolithic, especially when compared to southeast Europe. Representations of a specific, unambiguous form
would not have fit into the accepted system of symbolism. In
a discussion of Halafian painted pottery from the Northern
Levant and upper Mesopotamia, Campbell (2010) suggests
that naturalistic designs were more explicit symbols than
abstract designs. Explicit symbols were required when new
meanings and narratives were introduced into the ceramic
repertoire. It should be noted, however, that Campbell views
the abstract designs on Halafian pottery as comprising a relatively rigid symbolic system with a high level of convention
rather than an ambiguous symbolic system. Yarmukian and
Jericho IX decoration, being both abstract and relatively rigid,
may have comprised a similar system. It is possible that in
the specific context of Halafian pottery there is no particularly ambiguous system of symbolism comparable to the one
proposed for Wadi Rabah pottery in the Southern Levant.
Spielmann et al. (2006) argue that potters in New Mexico in
the 17th century AD began to decorate glaze ware bowls with
ambiguous symbols and obscured images. They see this as a
deliberate act of resistance; potters hid the meaning of their
symbols from Spanish missionaries who were attempting to
eradicate Pueblo religious practices. Cunningham (2009)
discusses how decorated enamel pots in modern Mali are
ambiguous symbols of the status of recently married women.
As objects with functional ties to food preparation and serving, they suggest “acquiescence to patriarchal authority”
(Cunningham 2009: 289), yet as decorative items displayed
in the home as part of a woman’s trousseau they symbolize
her economic independence and power.
The narrower range of decorative motifs on Yarmukian
and Jericho IX pottery may indicate that any symbolic information conveyed by pottery decoration may have been more
focused and fixed in the earlier part of the Late Neolithic than
messages communicated by later pottery, which, with less of
an emphasis on specific motifs and design elements, seems to
have been more ambiguous. The apparent simplicity of later
decoration further suggests its potential ambiguity as a material symbol. Danesi (2009) argues that simple symbols tend
to have a greater potential range of meanings than more complex ones. He uses the simple symbol X as an example, showing how in the modern world it can stand for a wide range of
things, including youth culture (GenX), a mistake, the Roman
numeral ten, a kiss, Christ, comic book superheroes (X-men)
and the mathematical function of multiplication, among other
things. In the Late Neolithic of the Southern Levant, the simple decoration of Wadi Rabah pottery may have similarly permitted the conveyance of a range of meanings.
K. GIBBS
Fig. 4 – Yarmukian figures. A) after Garfinkel et al. (2002:
fig. 13.11); B) after Stekelis (1972: pl. 46.1).
It is worth briefly commenting on the ways figurines
changed over the course of the Late Neolithic as they represent
the period’s other obvious class of potentially symbolic imagery (Verhoeven 2002). Several types of figurines have been
recovered from Yarmukian sites (Gopher and Orrelle 1996),
with seated cowrie-eyed figurines and incised pebble figurines
receiving the most attention (fig. 4). A number of explanations
have been proposed to explain their occurrence on Yarmukian
sites. Some emphasize the female characteristics of many of
the seated cowrie-eyed figurines and suggest that they played
a role in fertility magic or were representations of a female
deity (Garfinkel 2004; Stekelis 1972), or perhaps represented a
specific deified ancestor or ‘matron’ figure (Miller 2002: 232).
Others have suggested that some of these figurines combine
female and male characteristics and that they should be interpreted in the context of gender mutability (Gopher and Orrelle
1996; Peterson 2010: 258). A small number of seated cowrieeyed figurines are decorated with incised herringbone patterns
that recall the major decorative motif of Yarmukian pottery
(Garfinkel 2004), suggesting that there may be parallels in the
symbolic roles of some pots and figurines.
Incised pebbles have also been interpreted in different
ways. Some incised pebbles have what appear to be facial features, especially eyes, and Garfinkel (2004) argues that these
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may also represent a goddess figure. Other incised pebbles
have more abstract designs, including parallel or cross-hatched
lines. Gopher and Orrelle (1996) suggest that these represent
different stages of female physical development. Eirikh-Rose
(2004), however, suggests that these abstract pebbles are not
representations of the human form at all but, rather, are representations or symbols of individual or family identities.
In contrast to Yamukian sites, figurines or other representations of the human form from Jericho IX and Wadi Rabah
sites are almost entirely absent. An incised pebble recovered at
the Wadi Rabah site of Abu Zureiq (Garfinkel and Matskevich
2002: Figs. 18.1 and 21) and one from a reportedly Jericho IX
context at Tel Te’o (Eisenberg et al. 2001: fig. 9.6: 7) both
exhibit stylized human features. The most notable potential
Wadi Rabah representation of the human form, however, is not
a figurine. Rather, it is found as decoration on a unique Wadi
Rabah pottery vessel from the site of ‘En Jarba (Kaplan 1969).
This pot is decorated with an appliqué figure on each side.
Garfinkel (2002) interprets these as male dancers, perhaps
wearing animal masks, although they could represent animals
or animal skins instead (Bar-Yosef 1992: 39) or perhaps animal-human hybrids.
There have been few attempts to explain why figurines and
representations of the human form decline in the later part of
the Late Neolithic. Rollefson (2008a) suggests that this represents the culmination of a long-term trend and that figurines
had, in fact, been declining in number since the Middle PPNB.
However, a general shift to more ambiguous symbolism could
also explain the decline. Realistic depictions that clearly refer
to a specific form could serve to focus symbolic interpretations to rather specific meanings, which may not fit with a
symbolic system that emphasizes ambiguity. As noted above,
Thomas (2005) suggests that the scarcity of representations of
the human form in the British Neolithic might be explained by
an emphasis on ambiguous symbolism. The same could hold
true for the later part of the Late Neolithic in the Southern
Levant.
CHANGING COMMUNITIES
Decorated pottery and figurines can both be interpreted in
terms of an increase in symbolic ambiguity during the later
part of the Late Neolithic. But what might account for this
shift? The current extent of data makes any answer to this question necessarily tentative. However, considering the potential
roles of decorated pottery in Late Neolithic ritual and society
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77
may be informative. Certainly, pottery may have been valued
as a useful container technology but it was also an object with
potential symbolic or social significance. Nieuwenhuyse et al.
(2010: 83) suggest that the material properties of durability and
portability made early Near Eastern pots useful tools in the
manipulation of social relations. Decorated pots, in particular,
could have been ‘marked’ with individual biographies or roles
in processes of display and exchange. Similarly, Campbell
(2010) suggests that painted Halafian pots can be viewed as
agents that conveyed and enforced social information. In a discussion of Neolithic ritual symbolism in the Levant, Syria and
southeast Anatolia, Verhoeven (2002) proposes that decorated
pottery was particularly important for regulating social relationships at the level of the community. It was used to transmit
messages concerning group membership and therefore played
an important role in community organization.
More generally, ethnoarchaeological evidence from a
range of context supports the idea that pottery can play a role
in conveying social information and marking social boundaries. For example, the Kalinga of Northern Philippines have
a social organizational unit above the level of the settlement
that is referred to as a region. Graves (1994) demonstrates how
Kalinga pottery is distinctive between regions and homogeneous within each region and argues that this is due, in part,
to potters intentionally selecting contrastive designs. Hodder
(1982) argues that pottery is used to mark group membership
by people living around Lake Baringo in Kenya. This process
is most obvious in areas where different groups are competing
for scarce resources. In other cases pottery styles may correspond with social groups without actively being used to mark
social boundaries. For example, in western Kenya the Luo
people make pots that result in ‘micro-styles’ that correspond
to particular potter communities. Differences between microstyles may be recognizable by both potters and non-potters but
they do not seem to be actively used as identity markers, particularly by pottery consumers (Herbich 1987: 202).
Given the possible role of pottery in negotiating social
relationships it may be productive to consider changes in pottery decoration in the context of changing social organization, although we should not assume that early pottery in the
Southern Levant necessarily had the same role as pottery in
other regions of the world including other parts of the Near
East. Building on Verhoeven’s (2002) suggestion that pottery
played specific roles in rituals at the level of the community,
an increase in symbolic ambiguity could have been related to
change in the way communities were organized during the
later part of the Late Neolithic, with a new organizational system emerging that benefited from a less rigid symbolic system.
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Unfortunately, there are few studies of Late Neolithic community organization in the Southern Levant, either at the level of
the individual site or from a regional perspective (Banning et
al. 1994). However, some recent fieldwork projects may hint
at a change in settlement patterns that could reflect a shift in
community organization between the Yarmukian and Wadi
Rabah phases. The lack of data related to Jericho IX sites and
settlement patterns means that little can be said about relevant
community organization.
Villages developed in the Southern Levant over the course
of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic with ‘mega-sites’ appearing to the
east of the Jordan Valley towards the end of the PPNB. These
were large, aggregate sites over 10 ha in area with evidence
for dense occupation, including two-storey houses (Kuijt and
Goring-Morris 2002: 424). While determining population size
for these sites is complicated (Kuijt 2008: 289-290), estimates
range into the thousands (Kuijt 2000). The end of the PPNB
has been described as a collapse that resulted in the abandonment of sites, a drastic decrease in population, and a shift to
much smaller settlements. As recently as the 1970s scholars
could speak of a settlement hiatus that left the Southern Levant
unoccupied after the PPNB until new pottery-using settlers
re-colonized it centuries later (de Vaux 1966; Kenyon 1970;
Perrot 1968).
However, there is evidence for a degree of settlement continuity, with some sites remaining occupied after the ‘collapse’
of the PPNB (e.g., Rollefson et al. 1992; Simmons et al. 2001)
and new sites being founded soon after, and there is evidence
that during the earlier part of the Late Neolithic some sites
were quite large. The Yarmukian occupation at ‘Ain Ghazal,
which remained occupied throughout the ‘collapse’, may have
still covered 12 hectares (Rollefson 2008b) although population density seems to have declined resulting in a population
of 400-500 people (Simmons 2007: 215). The renewed excavations at Sha’ar Hagolan have uncovered the remains of an
extensive Yarmukian settlement, perhaps 20 hectares in area
(Garfinkel and Miller 2002), with evidence for large courtyard
structures, passageways and a well (Ben-Shlomo and Garfinkel
2009; Garfinkel et al. 2006). These features have led the excavators to interpret the site as a community with a three-tier
system of social organization: public features like the streets
and the well are thought to indicate organization at the level of
the wider settlement; courtyard structures are seen as a means
of organizing smaller groups of people, perhaps extended families; and groups of dwelling and storage rooms inside each
courtyard structure are interpreted as the residential units of
individual nuclear families (Ben-Shlomo and Garfinkel 2009).
As Banning (2010) notes, however, it is not clear that all the
K. GIBBS
structures were contemporaneous and we cannot be certain of
the development of each building complex. It is possible that
architecture developed as a “gradual infilling of the space”
(Banning 2010: 58) rather than as a result of top-down decision making at the scale of the community or extended family.
Excavations at other Yarmukian sites have not been as
extensive so it is more difficult to assess community size. Wadi
Shu’eib, like ‘Ain Ghazal and Sha’ar Hagolan, was probably
quite large (Rollefson 2008b) but other sites such as Jebel
Abu Thawwab (Kafafi 2001) were considerably smaller. BenShlomo and Garfinkel (2009: 198) suggest that Sha’ar Hagolan
was a regional centre in a hierarchical settlement system but, in
fact, the relationship between large and small sites is not well
understood and at present there seems to be little indication of
social inequality or large sites having influence over smaller
ones. What does seem clear, however, is that some Yarmukian
communities were large and contiguous, continuing in some
form a pattern that existed in the preceding PPNB.
Evidence from Wadi Ziqlab in Northern Jordan suggests
that a different system of social organization occurred here
during the 6th millennium cal. BC (Banning 2001; Kadowaki
et al. 2008). Recent excavations at the site of al-Basatîn
recovered evidence for a small agro-pastoral hamlet that was
engaged in a range of domestic activities (Banning et al. 2005;
Kadowaki et al. 2008; Gibbs et al. 2010). Sickle elements
and grinding stones point to the harvesting and processing of
grain. Faunal remains are dominated by sheep and goat, with
fewer cattle and pigs (Kadowaki et al. 2008). Small numbers
of spindle whorls indicate limited textile production. Pottery
from the site shows parallels with assemblages attributed to
Wadi Rabah assemblages, including small amounts of red and
black burnish, and impressions, combing and incisions on vessel surfaces (fig. 5) (see also Kadowaki et al. 2008: figs. 9 and
10). The distribution of artifacts and lack of substantial architecture at the site suggest a small population, perhaps consisting of one or two households.
Al-Basatîn is one of several sites in Wadi Ziqlab that
have been interpreted as small agro-pastoral hamlets. Earlier
excavations at Tabaqat al-Bûma, about 6 km to the east of
al-Basatîn, also produced sickle elements, grinding stones,
spindle whorls, and pottery exhibiting similarities with Wadi
Rabah assemblages (Banning et al. 1992 and 1996). An architectural analysis suggests that only one or two households
was occupied at the site at any given time in the later part of
the Late Neolithic (Kadowaki 2007). Interaction among the
small sites in the wadi very likely occurred—they are too
small to have been endogamous, occasional interaction could
have facilitated access to certain kinds of materials such as
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Late Neolithic Pottery and Ambiguous Symbols in the Southern Levant
79
Fig. 5 – Pottery from Tabaqat al-Bûma (A-G) and al-Basatîn (H-Q). Painted (A-C); combed
(D,I-M); incised lines (E, O); appliqué (F-G, N); stylus-impressed (P) and comb-impressed (Q).
basalt and shell (Kadowaki et al. 2008: 123), and interaction
could have encouraged labour-sharing for certain tasks such
as grain harvesting (Banning 2001). In some ways, the pottery from al-Basatîn and Tabaqat al-Bûma is similar, suggesting a degree of contact between the sites. For example, necked
jars are not common at either site and the absence of bowrim jars at both sites is notable as these often occur on Wadi
Rabah sites (Garfinkel 1999). But there are enough differences
between al-Basatîn and Tabaqat al-Bûma, in terms of architectural style, material culture, and faunal remains, to suggest
that interaction was not always regular or sustained. There is
no clear evidence for a larger, regional centre that could have
co-ordinated interaction among the sites and, as in the earlier
part of the Neolithic, there is no indication of a hierarchical
settlement pattern. Instead, the sites may have comprised a
dispersed community that was arranged linearly along the
course of the wadi (Banning 2001; Kadowaki et al. 2008),
with different small sites or congeries of individuals engaging
in occasional and intermittent interaction. In contrast to PPNB
mega-sites and large Yarmukian sites like Sha’ar Hagolan and
‘Ain Ghazal, the Wadi Ziqlab community during the later part
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of the Late Neolithic appears not to have been spatially contiguous. The boundaries of the community and those of the
small sites that comprised it were not congruent.
Indeed, the boundaries of dispersed communities can
potentially be flexible and rather ill-defined. The work of
Goody (1956) in Ghana provides an ethnographic example of a
linearly-organized, dispersed group with no central focus and
lacking clear boundaries:
“When we examine the system of group designations used
in this region, we finds that it is based not upon a series of
exclusive tribal names, but upon a ‘directional’ system in which
a number of contiguous peoples refer to themselves obliquely
by means of two names” (p. 17).
In Goody’s research area, the term ‘Lo’, along with a related
term ‘Dagaba’ (or ‘Dagaa’), was used by congeries of people to
refer to their neighbours and, depending on context, sometimes
themselves. Loose clusters of people referred to those living to
the east as ‘Lo’ and those living to the west as ‘Dagaba’. But
adjacent groups in either direction used the same system of
naming, calling groups to the east Lo and groups to the west
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Dagaba. As a result, group boundaries continually shifted, as
any particular congeries of people perceived themselves to be
at the boundary between Lo and Dagaba.
While Goody’s work may represent a somewhat extreme
example, any shift to a more dispersed system of community organization is likely to have altered the nature of community relationships and boundaries. In the Late Neolithic of
the Southern Levant, large sites like Sha’ar Hagolan may have
comprised distinct communities; residents would have interacted on a regular basis and it would have been relatively clear
who was a member of the community and who was not. As
the boundaries of the community were more or less congruous
with those of the site, co-residence would be a primary factor of membership or affiliation. The similar backgrounds of
the residents, based on regular proximate interactions, would
mean that material symbols were more likely to be interpreted
in similar ways, which would be solidified by a relatively rigid
symbolic system, such as that represented by Yarmukian pottery. Everyone engaging with Yarmukian pottery would have
realized their affiliation in a particular community so opportunities for interpretation of material symbols would be less
crucial.
In contrast, in a dispersed community with potentially
flexible boundaries affiliation would be less obvious. While
interaction likely occurred among the various small groups
of people that collectively comprised Wadi Ziqlab’s Late
Neolithic dispersed community, this would have been less
regular than in a large congruous community. This may have
been particularly true for people residing at different ends of a
dispersed community that was arranged linearly along a river
valley. In this case it is likely that community affiliation was
somewhat flexible. Living apart, individuals would have had
more freedom to emphasize or play down relationships with
others who lived in different locations, depending on specific
social or economic contexts. If for whatever reason a group of
people did not want to emphasize their affiliation with those
living to the west, they could emphasize their alignment with
those living to the east. As a result, community identity in this
context may have been more situational than during the earlier
part of the Late Neolithic.
In such a dispersed community characterized by intermittent and flexible interaction between its members, rigid or
unambiguous symbols of community affiliation may have been
undesirable. By emphasizing fixed meanings these symbols
would not have encapsulated the variability in backgrounds and
experiences that characterized the members of the dispersed
community. A rigid symbolic system may have served to isolate
some members by strongly emphasizing certain specific mean-
K. GIBBS
ings that may be unfamiliar or unappealing. In contrast, a more
ambiguous symbolic system would have provided people from
different parts of the dispersed community greater freedom to
interpret the symbols of community affiliation in their own way,
thus mitigating against possible tensions in the ways symbols
are interpreted. By promoting more flexible interpretations, the
simple yet varied symbolism of Wadi Rabah vessels would be
perceived as familiar to all community members even if the
specific meanings assigned to the symbols were not identical.
Ambiguous symbols could have facilitated the creation of new
relationships within and, perhaps, beyond the boundaries of the
community. Interaction among sites may have included social
occasions where the serving of food was involved, such as marriages, initiation rites, and work-sharing parties (Banning 2001;
Kadowaki et al. 2008). Decorated pots could have played a role
during these occasions as serving vessels, making it a potential
symbol of community membership. The participants in these
events would be more able to interpret these ambiguous symbols of community membership in their own way and in the
context of their own backgrounds, potentially easing interactions with others who were seen only irregularly or perhaps not
obviously members of the same community.
CONCLUSION
This paper discusses two possible developments that
occurred over the course of the southern Levantine Late
Neolithic. First, there was an emphasis on more ambiguous
symbolism in the later part of the period, as indicated by
changes in pottery decoration as well as a decline in figurine
use. Second, there was a shift in some cases from large contiguous communities to a more dispersed system of community
organization. Furthermore, it suggests a connection between
these two developments, with a system of more ambiguous
symbolism facilitating interactions that occurred on an irregular basis amongst people who were less clearly part of the same
community group.
Given the current state of Late Neolithic evidence, these
two developments and the connections between them must
remain somewhat speculative. Evidence for pottery decoration becoming more ambiguous relies on limited data from a
small number of sites. It would be preferable to have in-depth
quantitative evidence from a large number of sites but this is
currently not available. It is encouraging, however, that others
have noted the broad range of decoration that occurs in Wadi
Rabah assemblages symbols and the new decorative tech-
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Late Neolithic Pottery and Ambiguous Symbols in the Southern Levant
niques developed in the later part of the Late Neolithic (e.g.,
Garfinkel 1999: 147; Gopher and Gophna 1993), which I have
interpreted as evidence for an increase in symbolic ambiguity.
Furthermore, the documented decline of figurines as a nonambiguous symbol seems to corroborate this suggestion.
Evidence for a shift from large, contiguous settlements to a
more dispersed system of social organization is also somewhat
limited. In fact, some sites dating to the earlier part of the Late
Neolithic appear to have been quite small when compared to
contemporary sites like Sha’ar Hagolan and ‘Ain Ghazal, so
the picture is undoubtedly more complex than the one painted
in this paper. The general lack of regional surveys designed
to look for Late Neolithic settlement patterns makes it difficult to assess the significance of these sites or how widespread
dispersed communities were during the later part of the Late
Neolithic (Banning et al. 1994). It is possible that the differences in community organization outlined here were also influenced by geographical location rather than being the result of
any straightforward diachronic shift. It is worth pointing out,
however, that the area around Hazorea in the Jezreel Valley
shows a fairly dense concentration of sites dating to the 6th millennium and perhaps a similar system of dispersed settlements
existed there (Banning et al. 1994; Yannai 2006: 279-280).
At any rate, it is safe to say that more work on Late Neolithic
settlement patterns and social organization is needed.
Given the current state of research, it may be tempting to refrain from engaging with more theoretical topics
in Late Neolithic archaeology until further empirical date
becomes available through fieldwork, analysis and publication.
However, proposing new ideas and models, even somewhat
speculative ones, may serve to stimulate interest in the period,
which may in turn result in increasing research and improved
datasets. Philip (2011: 193) acknowledges the importance of
suitable data but also notes that Late Neolithic research is lacking a set of theories and concepts through which debate can
be conducted. This has resulted in an ‘intellectual gap’ leaving the Late Neolithic one of the most poorly understood in
the archaeology of the Southern Levant, despite a number of
recent projects that have focused on the period. Many studies of Late Neolithic pottery have emphasized the creation of
typologies for chronology-building and the definition of cultural groups. However, pottery studies can certainly be taken
in other directions and can help to fill this gap by contributing
to the development of new theoretical approaches.
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It is becoming increasingly clear that perspectives that
view the Late Neolithic as a period of devolution or collapse
are difficult to justify. In the earlier part of the period sites
were sometimes large, continuing a pattern that existed in the
PPNB, while a new system of dispersed communities may have
emerged by the 6th millennium cal. BC, at least in some areas.
In both cases, people would have developed complex relationships to maintain their communities, although the nature of
these relationships may have changed over time. Symbolic
imagery was likely one dimension to this process and symbolism would have been important during the Late Neolithic
much as it was during the PPNB (e.g., Gopher and Orrelle
1996; Orrelle and Gopher 2000). Indeed, appreciating the
symbolic dimension of pottery may help resolve other issues
in southern Levantine Late Neolithic research, including basic
typological classification. As mentioned above, there is considerable disagreement about how 6th millennium cal. BC sites
should be grouped even at a relatively basic level, especially
outside of the Wadi Rabah core area in the Jezreel Valley. The
limited intensity of studies that have focused on Late Neolithic
sites has certainly contributed to this confusion. But another
contributing factor may be that, in some cases, Late Neolithic
pots were intended to be ambiguous by the people who made
and decorated them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Department
of Archaeology at the University of Manchester and the current version has benefited from discussions stemming from that presentation.
I would like to thank Lisa Maher, Karina Croucher and three anonymous reviewers for commenting on a previous draft of this paper, and
Karine Taché for assistance with the French abstract. I would also
like to thank Ted Banning for giving me the opportunity to examine
Late Neolithic material from Wadi Ziqlab. Excavations at al-Basatîn
were directed by T. Banning, S. Kadowaki and the author. This paper
was written with financial support from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Kevin GIBBS
Department of Archaeology
University of Aberdeen
St. Mary’s Building
Aberdeen AB24 3UF
Scotland – UNITED K INGDOM
kevin.gibbs@abdn.ac.uk
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K. GIBBS
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