Back to Search
Start Over
A Unique Assemblage of Engraved Plaquettes from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel: Figurative and Non-Figurative Symbols of Late Pleistocene Hunters-Gatherers in the Levant
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 8, p e0160687 (2016), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016.
-
Abstract
- Three engraved limestone plaquettes from the recently excavated Epipaleolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the Jezreel Valley, Israel comprise unique evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant. The engravings, uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23ka and ca. 16.5ka BP), include the image of a bird-the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic-along with geometric motifs such as chevrons, crosshatchings and ladders. Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds interpreted as "systems of notations" or "artificial memory systems"-records related to timing of seasonal resources and associated aggregation events of nomadic groups. Moreover, similarly looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local Natufian-a final Epipaleolithic culture of sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers who started practicing agriculture. The investigation of the engravings found in Ein Qashish South involves conceptualizations developed in studies of European and local parallels, a selection of ethnographic examples and preliminary microscopic observations of the plaquettes. This shows that the figurative and non-figurative images comprise a coherent assemblage of symbols that might have been applied in order to store, share and transmit information related to social and subsistence realms of mobile bands. It further suggests that the site functioned as a locality of groups' aggregation and indicates social complexity of pre-Natufian foragers in the Levant. While alterations in social and subsistence strategies can explain the varying frequency of image use characterizing different areas of the Late Pleistocene world-the apparent similarity in graphics and the mode of their application support the possibility that symbol-mediated behavior has a common and much earlier origin.
- Subjects :
- Physiology
Social Sciences
lcsh:Medicine
01 natural sciences
Pleistocene Epoch
Ornithology
Bird Flight
Medicine and Health Sciences
Assemblage (archaeology)
Biomechanics
0601 history and archaeology
Animal Anatomy
Israel
lcsh:Science
Minerals
Quaternary Period
Multidisciplinary
Epipaleolithic
Animal Behavior
060102 archaeology
Geology
06 humanities and the arts
Mineralogy
Limestone
Archaeology
Vertebrates
Flight (Biology)
Research Article
010506 paleontology
Engraving and Engravings
Pleistocene
Context (language use)
Literal and figurative language
Birds
Paleontology
Animals
Humans
Symbolic behavior
Anthropology, Cultural
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Behavior
Biological Locomotion
lcsh:R
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Geologic Time
Social complexity
Feathers
Amniotes
Earth Sciences
Cenozoic Era
Animal Migration
Kebaran
lcsh:Q
Zoology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e2ec2494d755dcd1e43fdafaf2700397