Abstract
The motifs appearing on an incised bone artifact retrieved from the underwater site of Neve-Yam, dating to the sixth-fifth millennium BC and associated with the Pottery Neolithic/early Chalcolithic, Wadi Rabah culture, are subjected to systematic analysis using a methodology for research into symbolic subjects which tracks iconographic survival, focusing on the fusion and renewal of symbols. Mythical and historical evidence is assembled and assessed and art history sources are drawn upon, to provide a more comprehensive explanatory approach for the diverse lines of evidence. Iconographic links between motifs on the bone figurines with later Sumerian mythology require a re-evaluation of the chronological dispersion of symbolic graphemes; the application of new research on the relationship between art and writing suggests that narrative-making rather than evocation can be identified in this material. Such narratives reveal Neolithic precursors of ancient cosmological concepts and bring to light a tantalizing set of features which help to illuminate pre-literate, aniconic narratives of an early pantheon in the Neolithic period of the Near East.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3-42 |
| Number of pages | 40 |
| Journal | Time and Mind |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 8 Mar 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords
- Early chalcolithic
- Incised bone image
- Pottery neolithic
- Wadi rabah