'Ain Ghazal

31.58333333333336.333333333333Koordinaten: 31 ° 35 '0 "N, 36 ° 20' 0" E

ʿ Ain Ghazal (Arabic عين غزال ) is an early Neolithic settlement on the origin of the river Nahr ez- Zarqa near Amman in Jordan. The settlement was inhabited from about 7300 BC to 5000 BC and is one of the earliest references to an agriculture based society. Covering an area of around 15 hectares ʿ Ain Ghazal is one of the largest prehistoric settlements in the Near East. Due to extensive remains of ruined houses, graves, tools, food remains and the like, it is possible to reconstruct the everyday life of the people of ʿ Ain Ghazal. Since the place was inhabited for greater water resources than 2,000 years, changes in the lifestyle of these people over 100 generations are observed across beyond.

• 3.1 Face Masks
• 3.2 Statues

History of Research

The remains of ʿ Ain Ghazal remained around 7000 years intact since the abandonment of the settlement until the site was cut in 1974 during the construction of a motorway. Not until 1981 that the importance of the site was recognized as a bulldozer uncovered architectural remains and tombs. In 1982, the Jordanian Antiquities Authority with a rescue excavation, when the new highway was already at a distance of 600 meters by the locality. At this rescue excavation mainly students of universities in Jordan as well as numerous volunteers from business and diplomacy involved. As the enormous spatial extent ʿ Ain Ghazal was known in this way, plans for a multi-year excavation program for which in 1983 created the first Yarmuk University in Irbid took over the responsibility. Presented for the period of five years, the Desert Research Institute in Reno (Nevada ) and the National Geographic Society generous in the U.S. financial aid available.

During the campaign 1983, the excavation area was extended, with architectural remains and dumping four male skulls that still bore remnants of a former About modeling, were exposed. In the summer of the same year, the first of two so far hoarding was discovered, the anthropomorphic Some images contained in Kalklehm. This brought ʿ Ain Ghazal an international celebrity. The statues were recovered as a contiguous block, together with soil and preserved by the University College in London. Five of the 26 figures could also be restored.

In the following year the excavation areas were shifted to obtain new insights into the history of settlement ʿ Ain Ghazal. This succeeded in showing that the settlement was inhabited in size over two millennia and was even not given in time, were abandoned in the other villages of the southern Levant. Moreover, a second hoard was discovered with figures, however, had been greatly damaged by the construction of the highway. 1985 this Fund was also recovered as a soil block and for preservation at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC sent. There managed to produce three two-headed statues again.

1988/89 drew the later history of settlement in the center of the effort and it was found that from about 5500 BC the previously usual two -story apartment houses were replaced by single family homes, suggesting a decrease in population density. Further excavations from 1992 to 1998 focused more on the edges of the settlement, which once occupied its enormous expansion. In addition to the remains of an extension of the village east of Zarqa stone circles were uncovered, suggesting a very long walls. Such long walls were in the western main settlement so far not been demonstrated. In 1993, the existence of two-storey building was well established. Additionally, smaller buildings were found, which are interpreted as shrines. 1995 could also be exposed a sanctuary, which had a 20 -meter-long defensive wall and inside an altar and a fire pit. A similar building was discovered the following year in the eastern part of the settlement.

Settlement history

Settlement periods

• 7250 - 6500 BC: mid preceramic Neolithic B ( mPPNB )
• 6500 - 6000 BC: Late preceramic Neolithic B ( sPPNB )
• 6000 - 5500 BC: preceramic Neolithic C ( PPNC )
• 5500 - 5000 BC: ceramic Neolithic ( PN)

Art

In recent decades, numerous spectacular finds of art were discovered in the peripheral parts of the Fertile Crescent. These include over 30 sculptures from ʿ Ain Ghazal, which were made in the early 7th millennium BC.

Face Masks

The oldest sculptures in ʿ Ain Ghazal date from the 8th millennium BC, making them the oldest known so far, round plastic and life-size sculptures in the world. It involves three face masks that are considered as precursors of the whole-body statues. It is now believed that a large part of the dead former societies were buried outside of settlements, while only very few were buried under the floors of houses. In ʿ Ain Ghazal probably the latter tombs were opened again and removed her skull excluding the mandible. These skulls were then modeled with masks, with the facial features of the deceased were probably not simulated. The missing lower jaw led already to a broader face shape. The eyes were shown closed, but accentuated by bitumen deposits.

Statuary

The statues themselves were approximately 6700 BC disordered ( Hort 1, 1983) or 6500 BC ordered ( Hort 2, 1984) deposited in abandoned houses. They range in size from small format up to almost life-size sculpture. The older characters are distinguished by particularly emphasized body shapes and a color painting; they were equipped with an eyeball of white lime, and a bitumen deposit for eyelids and the iris. The later figures have a somewhat clumsier and undecorated body. These have almond-shaped pupils. In addition, there were among them three double-headed busts with flat, board-like bodies and finely worked faces. Probably served the figures a kind of ancestor worship and ritual were drawn up before they were buried after some time with the faces down into pits. The statues are made ​​of a total of a mixture of calcined limestone and clay. Mastering the art of lime burning led to the classification ʿ Ain Ghazal in the akeramische Neolithic B; During this time the technology of lime burning was known, yet it made ceramic until about 5500 BC. This mixture was modeled around an inner skeleton made ​​of reed bundles, passing stood out through the feet from the legs and pointed out that the figure was mounted on a stand.