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The “Violin-Shaped” Figurines of Tel Tsaf

New Light on Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Late Prehistoric Southern Levant
Michael Freikman, David Ben-Shlomo et Yosef Garfinkel
p. 43-59

Résumés

Résumé. Cet article présente un petit assemblage de figurines anthropomorphes en forme de "violon" provenant de Tel Tsaf, daté du Chalcolithique moyen (5300-4500 av. J.-C.). L'analyse de la technologie, de l'iconographie et du contexte spatial de l'assemblage, ainsi que de figurines comparables provenant d'autres sites, a permis de comprendre l'assemblage et sa place dans la séquence évolutive de l'imagerie artistique du Proche-Orient ancien. En outre, l'utilisation possible et la signification symbolique des figurines sont brièvement discutées.

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Introduction

1In this article we present and discuss a small assemblage of six anthropomorphic figurines from Tel Tsaf, which are dated to ca. 5300-4800 BC. This assemblage bridges a gap in our knowledge of the development of human representation in the late prehistoric southern Levant and enables a better understanding of the stylistic development of anthropomorphic figurines.

2The late prehistory of the southern Levant, ca. 6400-3700/3600 BC (all dates in this article are calibrated), comprises four sub-phases: Pottery Neolithic, Early Chalcolithic, Middle Chalcolithic and Late Chalcolithic (Garfinkel 1999; table 1).

Table 1. The periods referred to in this paper.

Table 1. The periods referred to in this paper.

3The earliest and the latest of these periods are characterized by an exceptional wealth of artistic and symbolic expressions. At the beginning of the time span is the Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 6400-5800 BC), in which the culture known as Yarmukian produced hundreds of artistic objects, including human and animal figurines and pebbles incised with geometric patterns. Among these, the most common representations are the so-called “cowry-eye” figurines and the pebble figurines, which are prominent markers of the period (Stekelis 1972; Dunand 1973; Garfinkel 1995; Garfinkel et al. 2010; Gopher and Eyal 2012).

4At the end of this time span is the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500-3700 BC), when the culture known in general as Ghassulian produced an exceptionally rich assemblage of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines made in different media, such as clay, metal, bone, ivory and stone (Perrot 1959; Bar-Adon 1980; Commenge 2006; Shalem et al. 2013). Among these, the most common representation is the “violin-shaped” figurine.

5Several scholars have pinpointed the relationship of the Late Chalcolithic examples with the few figurines dated to the earlier stages of the Chalcolithic (Commenge 2006; Milevski et al. 2018). In general, however, the development of these figurines is not well understood, and it is still uncertain when they first appear in the southern Levant and how this iconographic convention developed over time into the classical Late Chalcolithic form. The task of answering these questions has been impeded by a significant gap in the development of anthropomorphic imagery between the end of the Pottery Neolithic period, ca. 5800 BC, and the beginning of the Late Chalcolithic period, ca. 4500 BC. This is a gap of nearly 1300 years, which encompasses two periods: Early Chalcolithic, sometimes called Pottery Neolithic B or Wadi Rabah (ca. 5800-5300 BC), and Middle Chalcolithic, sometimes called Pre-Ghassulian Chalcolithic (ca. 5300-4500 BC); for different nomenclatures of these periods see Garfinkel (1999) and Milevski et al. (2018).

6From the Early Chalcolithic Wadi Rabah culture, or its variants such as Hagosherim, only a few anthropomorphic representations are known (Noy 1999; Bar-Yosef and Garfinkel 2008; Getzov 2011; Vered 2012; Galili et al. 2016; Milevski et al. 2016). Notably, some Early Bronze Age iconography bears a strong resemblance to some of these representations, a fact that has attracted much attention (Getzov 2011: fig. 10.43; Galili et al. 2016: fig. 2; Milevski et al. 2016). Otherwise, the artistic expression of this period is rather limited. The artistic expression of the Middle Chalcolithic is even less well known (Milevski et al. 2018: 92), and most of the sites attributed to this phase yielded no art objects. Thus, the assemblage of Tel Tsaf is currently almost the only information we have on the art of this neglected era.

Tel Tsaf and its Anthropomorphic figurines

7Tel Tsaf is a large village site located in the Jordan Valley, Israel and dated to the Middle Chalcolithic period (fig. 1). It was discovered and surveyed for the first time by Tzori in the 1950s (Tzori 1958: 49), and small-scale excavations at the site were conducted by Gophna on behalf of Tel Aviv University in 1979 (Gophna and Sadeh 1988-1989). Large-scale excavations were conducted in 2004-2007 under the direction of Y. Garfinkel on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The site is currently under excavation by Rosenberg and Klimscha in a joint expedition of the University of Haifa and the German Archaeology Institute (Rosenberg et al. 2014). Radiometric measurements have established a date of 5200-4800 BC for the site (Streit and Garfinkel 2015a).

Fig. 1. Location of Tel Tsaf.

Fig. 1. Location of Tel Tsaf.

8The excavations revealed large and impressive courtyard houses, numerous granaries with a total capacity of dozens of tons of grain, a well and various installations (Garfinkel et al. 2007, 2009, 2020; Garfinkel 2010; Ben-Shlomo et al. 2012). Four burials were found: the jar burial of a neonate, a one-year-old infant, a 20-30-year-old female and a 40-year-old female (Garfinkel et al. 2009: 317-318). The Chalcolithic period is represented at Tel Tsaf by two strata, Stratum 3 (phases a-b) and Stratum 4 (phases a-c). The excavation partially uncovered four large building complexes, I and II belonging to Stratum 3 and I, III and IV to Stratum 4 (Building Complex I continued through both strata). The building complexes comprise rectangular or circular buildings used for living, storage, cooking, and other domestic activities, as well as circular structures that served as silos. These silos contained a large amount of grain (see below) and were an important element of the economy of the site. The site yielded a rich assemblage of ceramics, assemblages of chipped and ground stone, numerous figurines, faunal and floral remains, the earliest metal object found in the southern Levant, and seal impressions on clay (Dag and Garfinkel 2007; Garfinkel et al. 2007, 2014; Ben-Shlomo et al. 2009; Graham 2014; Streit and Garfinkel 2015b; Freikman and Garfinkel 2017).

9Six anthropomorphic figurines, retrieved in varying states of preservation, were excavated at Tel Tsaf (labeled A1 to A6; figs. 2-7). All were made of clay and baked like pottery. The fine yellowish clay used for three of the figurines (A1-A3) seems to be of the same texture and origin and is visually different from the clay used for the other anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines found at Tel Tsaf, as well as the pottery. Figurine A4 is another well-baked object made of high-quality material that differs slightly from that of figurines A1-A3. Figurine A5 is manufactured from gray clay with very few grits, while figurine A6 is made of fine dark-gray clay without visible inclusions; in both cases the clay resembles that used for production of pottery vessels. Moreover, the baking and finish of these two figurines is of much lower quality than those of figurines A1-A4; for instance, no great efforts were made to finish them, and on the surface of figurine A5 one can still see smeared fingerprints left while smoothing it (see below, fig. 8).

Morphology and style

10The anthropomorphic figurines found at Tel Tsaf can be classified into three types. This typology is based mainly on the morphological features and the quality of manufacture:

Fig. 2. Figurine A1.

Fig. 2. Figurine A1.

Fig. 3. Figurine A2

Fig. 3. Figurine A2

Fig. 4. Figurine A3.

Fig. 4. Figurine A3.

Fig. 5. Figurine A4.

Fig. 5. Figurine A4.

11Type 1 (figurines A1-A4, figs. 2-5). These figurines were manufactured according to the same design, possibly by the same person.

  1. Their original height is between 7-9 cm.
  2. The torso is clearly anthropomorphic, delineating hips and shoulders.
  3. The arms are not depicted, but their existence is hinted at by the protrusions on the shoulders.
  4. The heads are missing, and their shape cannot be reconstructed based on figurines of this type alone.
  5. The only body part depicted is a pair of tiny breasts, anatomically located a little too high, pinched out in the upper part of the torso of figurines A1 and A2 by the fingers of the artisan. Hence, although no pubic organs are depicted, the sex of figurines A1 and A2 can be determined as female.
  6. The figurines of this group are free-standing.
  7. The figurines are not decorated by painting or incisions.

Fig. 6. Figurine A5.

Fig. 6. Figurine A5.

12Type 2 (figurine A5, fig. 6). This type is represented by one figurine with the following characteristics:

  1. The figurine is small; its maximum height was only half that of the Type 1 figurines.
  2. The general outline of the torso is clearly human, depicting hips and shoulders.
  3. Limbs were depicted by pinching out the feet and hands of the main body. They are too small to imitate anatomically correct limbs and should be regarded as symbolic representations of these body parts, as with the figurines of Type 1.
  4. No breasts or pubic organs are represented, and hence the sex of the figurine cannot be determined.
  5. The head is missing and its shape cannot be reconstructed based on the material evidence alone.
  6. The figurine cannot stand alone.
  7. The figurine is not decorated.

Fig. 7. Figurine A6.

Fig. 7. Figurine A6.

13Type 3 (figurine A6, fig. 7). One fragment of this type was attested at Tel Tsaf.

  1. The fragment represents only a human head.
  2. The original size of the figurine is hard to reconstruct, but it was small and probably did not exceed 5 or 6 cm in height.
  3. The head is unnaturally elongated, and the nose is long and rounded at the end. There are no eyes; it seems that this was part of the original design rather than a preservation issue.
  4. The figurine was not decorated by painting or any other means and the surface was left unsmoothed, in contrast to most of the other figurines (fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Evidence of fingerprints on figurine A5.

Fig. 8. Evidence of fingerprints on figurine A5.

Use/damage marks

14All of the complete figurines lack their heads or parts of their torso. In one case (A3) the figurine is also slightly damaged on one side. However, no clear evidence for deliberate damage was found, although such practices are known at other sites (Verhoeven 2007). At this stage of research, it is impossible to determine whether this damage is the result of deliberate action, accidental damage that led to their disposal, or damaged after disposal.

Context (figs. 9-10, table 2)

Fig. 9. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 3 at Tel Tsaf.

Fig. 9. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 3 at Tel Tsaf.

Fig. 10. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 4 at Tel Tsaf.

Fig. 10. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 4 at Tel Tsaf.

15Three of the four figurines of Type 1 (A1-A3) were found in Stratum 4 as a single cluster. They were found practically together, in the southwestern corner of the main courtyard of Building Complex I, between or near two silos (Loc. C74 and Loc. C171) and in noteworthy proximity to the burial of a 20-30-year-old female (fig. 11), but not within it. Figurine A5 (Type 2) was found in the lower debris of Stratum 3B in the southern part of the main courtyard of Building Complex I. However, as this area was substantially disturbed, it may well derive from the lower Stratum 4. If so, its context is comparable to that of figurines A1-A3 and it may belong to the same spatial cluster, relating to the silos, the burial or possibly both. The fragmentary figurine A4 was found in the courtyard in the northern part of Building Complex IV, where it was possibly discarded together with the refuse that was found in large amounts in this area. The fragmentary figurine A6 (Type 3) was found in one of the lowest levels reached by the expedition at Tel Tsaf, below the level of the floor in Room C612 of Building Complex IV (Loc. 618). This area was disturbed by geomorphological processes, and hence the exact context is not entirely clear. However, this figurine most probably belongs to the earlier stage of the Middle Chalcolithic settlement at the site.

Table 2. Location of the anthropomorphic figurines in Area C of Tel Tsaf.

Table 2. Location of the anthropomorphic figurines in Area C of Tel Tsaf.

Fig. 11. The development of the canon of anthropomorphic imagery from the Pottery Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic period.

Fig. 11. The development of the canon of anthropomorphic imagery from the Pottery Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic period.

1. Sha‘ar Hagolan; 2. Hacılar; 3. Tel Tsaf; 4. Gilat.

The Development of Anthropomorphic Representations in the Late Prehistoric Ancient Near East

16A short survey will be provided here in order to place the Tel Tsaf assemblage in the context of anthropomorphic figurines in the late prehistoric Levant. Only a few comparable representations have been found in the Middle Chalcolithic or earlier contexts in the southern Levant, but they can be compared to numerous realistic and “violin-shaped” figurines found in many sites in the wider Near East.

Pottery Neolithic Period

17The most extensive assemblage of Pottery Neolithic figurines was found at Sha‘ar Hagolan, numbering more than 250 complete and fragmentary examples (Garfinkel et al. 2010). The figurines of this period are represented by two major types: realistic baked clay figurines mostly representing seated obese females and more stylized figurines carved on limestone pebbles. In addition to these, a few figurines were found at contemporary sites, among others Munhata, Kfar Gil‘adi, Habashan Street in Tel Aviv (Noy 1999) the recently published Lod (Yannai 2016), Bet Hilqiya (Brink et al. 2016), slightly earlier figurines from Motza (Vardi et al. 2020: 118-119, fig. 10) and Yarmouth (Gopher et al. 2019). A figurine found at Ard es-Samra is somewhat different from the rest of the repertoire because it was fashioned on a fragment of a broken pottery vessel (Getzov et al. 2009: 144-145, fig. 34). Thus, in a most unusual way it combines features characteristic of the two types of figurines found at Sha‘ar Hagolan: the three-dimensional anthropomorphic clay figurines and the flat representations of humans incised on pebbles. Large assemblages of vividly realistic female figures, many depicted in a seated posture, were found at Çatal Höyük in Anatolia; they are roughly contemporary with the Pottery Neolithic of Sha‘ar Hagolan and other sites in the southern Levant (Mellaart 1963; Nakamura and Meskell 2013). Another large assemblage of anthropomorphic figurines was found at Hacılar in Anatolia (Mellaart 1970: 166-185). The earlier figurines, mostly from the Late Neolithic Stratum VI, are highly realistic three-dimensional figurines typical of this period. Several realistic figurines are attested at Tell es-Sawwan (Al-Adhami 1968: pl. 15). One free-standing clay figurine that has an elongated head on which eyes are depicted and incisions marking the hips was found in a Neolithic context at Yarim Tepe I (Munchaev and Merpert 1973: 9, pl. 8:3). One three-dimensional figurine of a woman holding a baby was found at Zaghe in northern Iran (Negahban 1979: fig. 14).

Early Chalcolithic Period

18In general, the southern Levant is rather poor in anthropomorphic artistic representation in this period, and the few examples found so far, most representing females, are very different from one another in shape and style (Milevski et al. 2018). Figurines found at Nahal Zehora and Tel Te’o are flat figurines engraved on pebbles reminiscent of the pebble figurines of the preceding Pottery Neolithic period (Galili et al. 2016; Milevski et al. 2016: fig. 13). One anthropomorphic figurine of different style found at Jericho, however, is of particular interest (Holland 1982: 552, fig. 223.2). This is a fragment of the lower part of a figurine made of unbaked clay bearing a depiction of the belly button and a number of parallel diagonal incisions, which strongly resembles Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic figurines from sites in the northern Levant and Anatolia. Although defined as a “PPNB” figurine by Holland, it derives from a disturbed context, leaving open the question of its date. The stylistic resemblance to its parallels makes it more probable that it should be attributed to the Early Chalcolithic Stratum VIII.

19In the northern Levant, 31 figurines from the final stages of the Pottery Neolithic Level 6, contemporaneous with the Southern Levantine Early Chalcolithic, were reported at Sabi Abyad (Collet 1996). Generally, figurines found in this context are three-dimensional figurines, most of them free-standing. Their appearance is stylized to a great extent, most featuring only a few incisions on the body and breasts implying the female sex of the figurine. Heads are missing, but it seems that they were small elongated bumps of some kind. A fragment of a figurine from Byblos dated to the “Néolithique récent” is a crude clay object with an elongated head and two short projections instead of arms (Dunand 1973: pl. 152.21473). A figurine from Chagar Bazar defined as “prehistoric” (Mallowan 1947: 128, fig. 9.11) belongs to the Halaf period. It is a painted figurine of a female holding her breasts, depicted in a realistic fashion reminiscent of the earlier Neolithic parallels. Realistic three-dimensional figurines as well as flatter and more stylized figurines, some of them with outlined hips and pinched breasts, were attested at Arpachiyah in Upper Mesopotamia (Mallowan and Cruikshank Rose 1935: fig. 47.1-4, 19-24). A number of anthropomorphic figurines were found in Yarim Tepe II of the Halaf period. All of them are made of baked clay; however, while one of them is a three-dimensional figurine highly reminiscent of the female anthropomorphic representations of the preceding Neolithic period (Merpert and Munchaev 1987: fig. 12.9), others are shaped on flat plaques of clay. The latter are very stylized, and the only features represented are the blank elongated heads and the waist and hips accentuated by incisions (Merpert and Munchaev 1987: 25-26, fig. 12.1-8). Notably, at least one of these figurines was found in a burial context (Merpert and Munchaev 1987: 26). A realistic three-dimensional figurine representing a seated female was found at the Neolithic (6th millennium BC) site of Yabalkovo in Bulgaria (Leshtakov et al. 2007: 198, fig. 13.1).

Middle Chalcolithic Period

20Two “violin-shaped” figurines were found in Stratum 17/16 at Hurvat Uza, defined as Early Chalcolithic 2 by the author and contemporaneous with Middle Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf (Getzov 2009: 101-102). The figurines are made of hard limestone, but their body proportions resemble those of the Tel Tsaf figurines. At least two “violin-shaped” figurines were found in the basal strata of Tell Abu Hamid (Dollfus and Kafafi 1995: fig. 4.1-2), which should also be dated to the Middle Chalcolithic period (Garfinkel 1999: 158). The torso and lower part of these stone figurines are practically equal in height. A figurine found at Ramot Nof that belongs to the Besorian variant of the Middle Chalcolithic is made of chalk; its torso is a little higher than its lower part (Nahshoni et al. 2003: 12-13, fig. 6.3).

21Several figurines were published from Amuq E stratum at Tell Kurdu (Braidwood and Braidwood 1960: 204, fig. 160.12-14 and more recently Aslihan Yener et al. 2000). Two of them represent a three-dimensional seated figure reminiscent of the figurines of the Neolithic period; however, they were found in a rather disturbed context and cannot be safely attributed to the Amuq E/Middle Chalcolithic period. Other figurines resemble those from Tel Tsaf. These baked clay figurines are highly stylized, the arms are marked only by short protrusions, there are tiny modeled breasts, and in two case a small conical head is preserved (Braidwood and Braidwood 1960: fig. 160:13; Aslihan Yener et al. 2000: fig. 17.5). Several realistically depicted seated figurines defined by some archaeologists as “Mother Goddess” figurines were found in the lowest Ubaid-period strata of Tepe Gawra along with a single “violin-shaped” figurine, which is “extremely conventionalized” (Tobler 1950: 163). One should stress the fact that while some of the realistic figurines have perfectly executed arms that typically hold the breasts, others (e.g. Tobler 1950: pl. 31.c) have only short symbolic projections. The figurines from Stratum I at Hacılar, belonging to the Ubaid-related culture of the early 5th millennium BC, differ from their predecessors from the deeper Neolithic levels. While some of the figurines from this period represent realistic three-dimensional seated or standing females, others are free-standing but relatively flat clay objects with short protrusions instead of arms, incised hips and pinched breasts, showing a much greater affinity to the “violin-shaped” figurines (Mellaart 1970: 179-180, figs. 245-246). Two figurines were found in Ubaid-period contexts at Tell Arpachiyah (Mallowan and Cruikshank Rose 1935: 79, fig. 45.4-5). Some of the earliest examples of “violin-shaped” figurines in the Mediterranean Basin are attested at Saliagos in the Cycladic islands, dated to the early 5th millennium BC and therefore roughly contemporary with Tel Tsaf and the Ubaid culture (Evans and Renfrew 1968: 62-64, figs. 76, 77, pls. 54, 45).

Late Chalcolithic period

22Figurines of this period, with an easily recognizable “violin” shape that developed from the previous periods, appear at numerous sites across the southern Levant. The largest assemblage, found in the sanctuary at Gilat, numbers 76 complete objects and fragments representing at least 53 different objects of this kind made of various local and imported materials, such as local and imported stone, bone, and potsherds in secondary use (Commenge 2006: 754). Several figurines were found by different expeditions in Late Chalcolithic strata of Teleilat Ghassul (Vincent 1935: 87, fig. 6.1; North 1961: pl. 10.S8387; Lee 1973: LB7172). Most of them have the typical “violin” shape, but one dubbed a “sculpted type” (Lee 1973: 278), is made of baked clay and has a pair of breasts. Other southern sites have produced only one or a few figurines each: Shiqmim (Levy 1987), Site R48 in northern Sinai (Oren and Gilead 1981: 33, fig. 9.14), Nahal Besor, Tel Haror, Wadi Zeita and Titora (Commenge 2006: 754). In northern Israel “violin-shaped” figurines have been found at several sites. The largest assemblage, consisting of 16 such figurines made of stone and bone, was found in the burial cave of Peqi‘in (Shalem et al. 2013). They share the same proportions, with the lower part being much higher than the torso, and one of them has a pair of breasts. Holes were drilled in two of them, probably for suspension. One figurine was found on the surface at Gamla; it is made of limestone, the torso and lower part are almost equal in height, and it has an intact conical head (Gutman 1994: 45-46). One limestone figurine was found at Tel Kitan (Eisenberg 1993: 879). One recently published stone figurine from Tell Dover is reminiscent of the later “violin-shaped” figurines in its very unnatural proportions: the torso is more than twice as high as the lower part (Khalaily et al. 2016: 127, fig. 10.1). In addition to the Middle Chalcolithic figurines found at Abu Hamid, three stone figurines were found in the Late Chalcolithic stratum (Dollfus and Kafafi 1995: fig. 4.3-5); in one of them, the torso is higher than the lower part and in the fragmentary second one the proportions are apparently much closer to those of the typical Late Chalcolithic figurines (Commenge 2006). A figurine from Byblos is a well-executed stone made object. It has an elongated head, the torso is almost as high as the lower part, and there is a hole drilled in the head, most probably for suspension (Dunand 1973: pl. 162.34066). All in all, it seems that, unlike earlier figurines, the Late Chalcolithic examples tend to represent a cultural phenomenon isolated from the influence of the Mesopotamian or Syrian iconographic styles, which differ significantly from that of the Southern Levant.

Discussion

23A number of general characteristics are shared by the figurines of Tel Tsaf.

  1. Figurines of Type 1 (figurines A1-A4) clearly form a homogenous group in their raw material, quality of manufacture, free-standing stance, size, style, and spatial location. Figurines A5 and A6, although much more primitive in manufacture, display some stylistic similarities to Type 1, appearing to be a “cheaper” version of them. The assemblage in general, and figurines of Type 1 in particular, show a high degree of regularity; they were most probably executed by artisans belonging to the same school, and possibly even in the same workshop.
  2. The iconographic characteristics of the assemblage are standardized. The figurines are highly stylized: the only features shown are the hips, protrusions in place of the arms, and (in Type 1) breasts. All in all, they fit the general style of the anthropomorphic iconography of this period and its place in the evolutionary sequence of later prehistory in the ancient Near East.
  3. With considerable caution, based on the head fragment A6 of Type 3 found at the site and numerous parallels from late prehistoric sites in the region, we may reconstruct the heads of the figurines as elongated blank protrusions (Commenge 2006: 790).
  4. No conclusions can be drawn with regard to the damage patterns.
  5. The contextual evidence is striking, even taking into account the small size of the assemblage. All four of the Type 1 figurines were found in a small area of a few square meters in the same architectural unit, while none of the other large courtyards, silos, and houses yielded figurines, with the exception of the two poorly executed imitations. This stands in clear opposition to the assemblage of zoomorphic figurines, which were found all over the site and in different strata (figs. 9-10).

24The parallels presented above by no means comprise a full list of standing or seated anthropomorphic representations from the ancient Near East and beyond, but they give us an opportunity to examine the figurines from Tel Tsaf in the light of changes in fashion in the region over a long period, from the Pottery Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic period (fig. 11).

25Analysis of the anthropomorphic figurines from the sites of different periods points to certain stylistic tendencies during the 7th-4th millennia BC. The earliest figurines are mostly free-standing three-dimensional seated female figurines made of baked clay, with a realistic representation of various body and head elements, such as eyes, mouths, ears, belly buttons, and even details of clothing, made of separate lumps of clay attached to the main body. Generally, the height of the lower part of the body is equal to or similar to that of the torso.

26The Early Chalcolithic figurines and their Halafian parallels in the North are represented by two parallel styles: flat pebble figurines reminiscent of the Neolithic pebble figurines appear alongside realistic baked clay figurines resembling the earlier Neolithic-style seated women. Many of the latter are now thinner, and some body features previously represented by plastic elements are now shown by incisions cut into the bodies. At the same time, much more stylized examples now become common in assemblages all over the region. These figurines are mostly manufactured from baked clay, many of them are still free-standing, and they preserve the equal proportions of the torso and the lower part of the body that is common in previous periods. However, even in the better-preserved figurines, the head is merely an elongated conical protrusion on top of the shoulders, without representation of eyes, nose, mouth or other elements. Arms are now usually represented by simple short protrusions and hips and legs by simple incisions in the lower part of the body. The only detail still frequently represented in plastic fashion is the breasts. One should also mention anthropomorphic representations on bone and stone palettes found in various sites in Northern Israel. They are very different in style and iconography from the figurines mentioned earlier, and seem to have been related to another group of human representations, such as certain facades of the ossuaries in Israel or palettes in Syria and Mesopotamia (Milevski et al. 2016: 138-142).

27In the Middle Chalcolithic period, no figurines that are comparable to the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic pebble type are so far attested. On the one hand, the figurines from Tel Tsaf preserve the earlier tradition of free-standing figurines fashioned in clay, with symbolic representation of hips and arms and an elongated conical head that can be restored on the basis of numerous parallels and a single figurine head (A6). On the other hand, they have a strong visual resemblance to their descendants in the succeeding period.

28Eventually, the Late Chalcolithic “violin-shaped” figurines become extremely stylized and visually have little in common with the figurines of the Neolithic period. The great majority are manufactured in media other than baked clay, such as chipped stone and bone. The body proportions change radically, the lower part of the body usually being twice the height of the torso. The few body elements represented, such as arms, legs, and head are marked by simple protrusions in the area of shoulders and hips and an elongated conical protrusion on top of the shoulders. The breasts virtually disappear as well; they appear on only three of the almost 80 figurines found in the southern Levant. As Commenge has proposed, one possible reason for this phenomenon, as well as the change in the body proportions, is the move away from clay for the production of the figurines: on stone pebbles and bones, which naturally occur in flat forms, it is much harder to create elements such as breasts, and this fact may have dictated their disappearance (Commenge 2006: 772; table 3 summarizes the stylistic changes in the production of anthropomorphic figurines in the Southern Levant and their counterparts in Syria and Mesopotamia).

29Although exceptions to this rule are recorded, the great majority of the figurines discussed in this paper follow it, and we may cautiously accept the opinion of Commenge as a working theory. It is also possible that the change in raw material and the development of a two-dimensional appearance had additional meaning, such as social status or reference to a mythological motif. However, we do not seem to have enough data to make any assumptions at this stage of research (Levi and Golden 1996).

Table 3. Stylistic changes in anthropomorphic figurines during late Prehistory.

Table 3. Stylistic changes in anthropomorphic figurines during late Prehistory.

30Consequently, the assemblage of figurines from Middle Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf preserves characteristics of the earlier style of clay figurines while simultaneously showing certain similarities to the classical Late Chalcolithic “violin-shaped” figurines. The discovery of the Tel Tsaf assemblage helps us to fill the gap between the earlier and later phases of the Chalcolithic period in particular, and in the development of late prehistoric anthropomorphic imagery in the southern Levant in general. The transition of “violin-shaped” figurines from highly realistic to stylized can now be better tracked over time. This long process starts with Pottery Neolithic Yarmukian culture, in which we already observe a high degree of canonization of the style of anthropomorphic figurines (Garfinkel 2010). Later on, we witness a long process of gradual change in the same value system, in the course of which the canonical representation of a human being, mostly female, becomes more and more symbolic, eventually losing most of its body and facial features. Therefore, we may suggest that the figurines of Sha‘ar Hagolan, Tel Tsaf and Gilat occupied a similar if not identical semantic niche in the ideology of the population.

The meaning of the anthropomorphic figurines

31The task of explaining the figurative art of prehistoric times in the absence of literacy is extremely difficult, and its very feasibility is questioned by some scholars (see, for example, Hamilton et al. 1996). Representations of human beings and animals have drawn the special attention of scholars since the earliest days of archaeological research and have occupied disproportionately large chapters in excavation reports (Bailey 2005: 2). The theory of the matriarchate as a step toward more complex societies (Bachofen 1861, 1967) was a foundation for many early works dealing with prehistoric anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations. Since the first archaeological reports, assemblages of figurines have almost automatically been explained as representations of deities. Evans was probably the most influential scholar in introducing the idea of the “Great Mother Goddess” as a single goddess in the archaeological discourse (Evans 1921: 45-52), while Nilsson proposed the existence of numerous different deities (Nilsson 1927: 337-338). This perception of prehistoric art was later developed by Cauvin, who introduced the concept of “la Femme et le Taureau”: the Great Goddess sometimes escorted by a bull representing the male deity. Almost all of the plethora of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations was explained as the expression of a kind of “female monotheism”, in the sense that all the rest were subordinate to her (Cauvin 2002: 32). Gimbutas took this theory even further: not only the female figures, but almost every shape, were symbols of the Great Goddess. Even male figurines, according to her, were symbols of this divinity (Gimbutas 1989: 232). In short, almost any figure or shape was explained as a deity or its symbol that served as an object of veneration and was believed to bring fertility and other benefits to its owners. However, developments in archaeological science since the mid-twentieth century have made it clear that the phenomenon of figurines is not homogenous and that alternative explanations are possible as well (Cohen 2003; Nowell and Chang 2014). Ucko was the first to confront the “veneration paradigm”, presenting four alternative explanations of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures: objects of veneration, children’s toys, teaching devices, and vehicles of magic (Ucko 1968: 420-444).

32Later on, additional interpretations were proposed. Some of the Mesopotamian figurines were regarded as tokens (Schmandt-Besserat 1992) and many of the Neolithic representations were explained as objects reflecting certain aspects of the local mythology (Schmandt-Besserat 1998) or representations of actual human beings, whether living, dead or mythical. This category includes representations of the inhabitants of a specific community (Bailey 1994) and in slightly later periods priests and worshippers as well (Frankfort 1996: 45-66). Fleming even considered some of the female representations to be “cheerful local pornography” (Fleming 1970: 251). Some more recent studies tend to relate this phenomenon from the point of view of gender studies (Talalay 1994; Gopher and Orelle 1996).

Explanation of the iconography of the Tel Tsaf figurines

33How then can we explain the anthropomorphic figurines of Tel Tsaf in the light of these developments in the study of figurines? Although the assemblage is small, its characteristics enable us to make some assumptions.

34First, the figurines of Type 1 show a striking regularity of size and style. This implies that the artisan followed clear “guidelines” during their preparation to ensure that they would all be identical. In other words, the possibility that these figurines were mundane objects such as children’s dolls or “teaching devices” should probably be ruled out. This observation is especially relevant in view of the much more primitively and carelessly executed figurines of types 2 and 3, which can be explained in this context as simple imitations of the “real” figurines and can be viewed as objects for use in activities performed by children or toys made for them by adults. The exact repetition of the execution of the smallest details of the “violin-shaped” figurines may be regarded as a ritual in itself, implying that the meaning of the figurines went beyond the simple representation of a human figure. One possibility is that they were used as “vehicles of magic”, i.e. in the performance of some kind of sympathetic magic. However, no signs of ritual activity of this sort, such as clearly deliberate damage inflicted on the figurines, are so far attested at Tel Tsaf. This stands in clear contradiction to the zoomorphic figurines found at Tel Tsaf: at least 12 of the 38 zoomorphic figurines found there bear evidence of cutting or stabbing the quadrupeds (fig. 12), similarly to many other examples of such actions from various Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites (McAdam 1997; Freikman and Garfinkel 2009).

Fig. 12. A zoomorphic figurine from Tel Tsaf, probably depicting a wild boar. A stab hole is marked by a circle.

Fig. 12. A zoomorphic figurine from Tel Tsaf, probably depicting a wild boar. A stab hole is marked by a circle.

35After eliminating other possibilities, we may suggest that the “violin-shaped” figurines from Tel Tsaf should be regarded as elements of a Middle Chalcolithic mythological model, objects that were used as part of a religious ritual. Their assignment to the female sex may imply that these figurines should be associated with the so-called “Great Mother Goddess” or a similar female divinity related to some kind of fertility cult, whether the fertility of the land or that of the human body (Anati 1986: 10), a notion frequently proposed in the past with regard to anthropomorphic figurines in the southern Levant (Elliott 1977; Alon and Levy 1989: 187; Milevski 2002). However, there is no evidence showing that they depicted deities of any kind. The figurines are made of clay rather than a rare and valuable material; their small size makes it less probable that they were exhibited as a focus of veneration; they do not possess special attributes that clearly distinguish them from ordinary human representations; and they were not found inside any of the several niches installed in the walls of the buildings excavated in Tel Tsaf or even inside the buildings at all, but were rather simply disposed of after they went out of use. Despite all this, however, the possibility that the figurines depicted supernatural anthropomorphic creatures of some kind cannot be totally excluded.

36Another possibility is that these figurines, and other Chalcolithic figurines as well, may have represented human beings, in most cases females, whether as general idealistic images or symbolic images of specific living persons or ancestors (Joffe et al. 2001; Commenge 2006: 794). This theory may be reinforced by the marked similarity between the upper parts of the Late Chalcolithic “violin-shaped” figurines and the gables of the ossuaries, already pointed out by different scholars (Yadin 1976: 121; Oren and Gilead 1981: 33; Shalem 2008: 46). In addition, the elongated heads common to many Neolithic and Chalcolithic figurines, including Figurine A6 from Tel Tsaf, are similar to the numerous depictions of clearly living people in the process of dancing or religious processions known from all over the region, the elongated heads possibly representing special headgear of some kind (Garfinkel 2004; Commenge 2006: 790, Vardi et al. 2020). These heads may also be considered in light of the discovery of burials containing artificially deformed skulls at Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites across the ancient Near East, for instance at Khirokitia, Byblos, Seyh Hüyuk, Ganj Dareh, Jericho and elsewhere, which are certainly evidence of a ritual practice (Özbek 1974; Meiklejohn et al. 1992).

37Along with the stylistic analysis, the contextual evidence of the assemblage may provide us with an additional clue to the identity of the figure depicted, as well as the role of the figurines in the social and religious life of the Tel Tsaf community. Although the figurines, particularly those of Type 1, were found in debris, i.e. their deposition was post-functional (for comparisons see Commenge 2006: 793), this context is still of great interest since all the figurines of Type 1 were found in a limited area in close proximity to two silos, as well as an adult burial (fig. 13).

Fig. 13. Remains of the skull in burial C98.

Fig. 13. Remains of the skull in burial C98.

38Four burials have been uncovered so far at Tel Tsaf. Two of them, belonging to a neonate and an infant, were near or inside a silo but not provided with offerings of any kind. This stands in clear contradiction to the burial of the adult female buried inside a silo in the courtyard Building Complex I. The silo was by then out of use, and the burial pit was covered by a pile of large stones. This fact is important in itself, for stones are extremely rare in this part of the Jordan Valley, and indeed all the walls of the buildings and silos were built with mudbricks, usually without stone foundations. Moreover, the body was interred with a sophisticated adornment made up of 1668 beads and with a copper pin. This is the earliest known evidence for the use of metal in the southern Levant, clearly a very rare and valuable object at this time (Garfinkel et al. 2014).

39The combination of storage facilities, burials, and the presence (or absence) of exclusive offerings not found anywhere else at the site is an exciting insight into the social life of the site’s inhabitants. We may raise the possibility that the objects that accompanied the interred people into the world of the dead reflected their status in the society of Tel Tsaf. The location of the burials near or within the silos implies a strong link between issues related to the netherworld and fertility rites, while the offerings (metal pin, beads and figurines) may have reflected the social status of the interred person in the Tel Tsaf community. While the babies were buried without a clear social marker, the older people present a different situation. Indeed, the figurines were found not inside the burial pits but rather scattered around them; it is plausible that they were used in some way during the rituals related to the interment process or immediately afterward.

40Moreover, another striking feature of the site is the existence of several large elongated pits, most located in the same courtyard of Building Complex I in the immediate vicinity of the burials and related silos (fig. 14). These elongated pits were found filled with ashy sediment, rocks showing signs of heating and numerous pig bones, and therefore are interpreted as pits used for the preparation of food, mostly meat (Ben-Shlomo et al. 2009; Garfinkel et al. 2020: 229-236). It should be mentioned that the numerous rocks, rarely found in the vicinity of Tel Tsaf, must have been collected and transported from a considerable distance, which would have required a significant concerted effort by many people. In general, these pits have been interpreted as evidence for communal feasting of possibly ritualized nature conducted by the inhabitants of Building Complex I, a phenomenon also attested at other sites in the ancient Near East during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (Helwing 2003; Twiss 2008). The cooking pits found here are closely related to both burials and granaries and may be regarded as another element in the complicated social or religious ceremony represented by these features. Along with fertility rites or ceremonies for ensuring the large amounts of surplus cereals required to fill the granaries (Garfinkel et al. 2020: 236), the vicinity of the burials might have been indirectly or directly related to the pits, providing the dead with food in the Netherworld or contrariwise asking for help for the living inhabitants of the complex. This strong connection between the world of the living and the world of the dead through supply or consumption of food near the burials may be considered as the precursor of the Late Chalcolithic tradition (Epstein 2001; Goren 2002), although the Middle Chalcolithic ceremonies were held inside dwelling areas rather than in especially designated cemeteries.

41All in all, considering the silos, the pits used for preparing the feasts, the burials and the special finds including the figurines of Type 1, most of which are not found in other excavated parts of the site, we may hypothesize the existence of fairly complex social events on a family or clan level in an area designated for the creation of prestige. We may possibly even point to emerging inequality in Middle Chalcolithic society, resulting in the performance of more lavish ceremonies for the living and more exclusive treatment of the dead.

Fig. 14. An elongated pit used for preparation of food, uncovered in the courtyard of Building Complex I.

Fig. 14. An elongated pit used for preparation of food, uncovered in the courtyard of Building Complex I.

Conclusions

42To sum up, the discovery of an assemblage of anthropomorphic figurines at Middle Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf provides us with new insight into an aspect of Middle Chalcolithic material culture that was previously barely known in the southern Levant: a prototype of the “violin-shaped” figurine found in a significant context and visually very similar to the well-known Late Chalcolithic examples. This prototype simultaneously resembles both the preceding Early Chalcolithic/Halafian style and the classical Late Chalcolithic “violin-shaped” figurine, filling another chronological gap in the history of the Chalcolithic period and improving our understanding of changes in the canonical rules of Chalcolithic society. Moreover, the study of the physical properties of the figurines, together with their spatial distribution in relation to other features discovered at Tel Tsaf, may advance our understanding of the social life of this community as a whole and its particular members, and the way it is reflected in the material culture. Of course, the small size of the assemblage presented above forces us to be cautious in our assumptions. We hope that future excavations at Tel Tsaf and other Middle Chalcolithic sites will enlarge the sample of the anthropomorphic imagery of this period and further clarify its role in the life of this society and its religious practices.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Table 1. The periods referred to in this paper.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-1.jpg
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Titre Fig. 1. Location of Tel Tsaf.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-2.jpg
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Titre Fig. 2. Figurine A1.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-3.jpg
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Titre Fig. 3. Figurine A2
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-4.jpg
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Titre Fig. 4. Figurine A3.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-5.jpg
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Titre Fig. 5. Figurine A4.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-6.jpg
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Titre Fig. 6. Figurine A5.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-7.jpg
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Titre Fig. 7. Figurine A6.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-8.jpg
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Titre Fig. 8. Evidence of fingerprints on figurine A5.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-9.jpg
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Titre Fig. 9. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 3 at Tel Tsaf.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-10.jpg
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Titre Fig. 10. Spatial distribution of the figurines and burials in Stratum 4 at Tel Tsaf.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-11.jpg
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Titre Table 2. Location of the anthropomorphic figurines in Area C of Tel Tsaf.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-12.jpg
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Titre Fig. 11. The development of the canon of anthropomorphic imagery from the Pottery Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic period.
Légende 1. Sha‘ar Hagolan; 2. Hacılar; 3. Tel Tsaf; 4. Gilat.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-13.jpg
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Titre Table 3. Stylistic changes in anthropomorphic figurines during late Prehistory.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-14.jpg
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Titre Fig. 12. A zoomorphic figurine from Tel Tsaf, probably depicting a wild boar. A stab hole is marked by a circle.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-15.jpg
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Titre Fig. 13. Remains of the skull in burial C98.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-16.jpg
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Titre Fig. 14. An elongated pit used for preparation of food, uncovered in the courtyard of Building Complex I.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/1287/img-17.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 4,0M
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Michael Freikman, David Ben-Shlomo et Yosef Garfinkel, « The “Violin-Shaped” Figurines of Tel Tsaf »Paléorient, 47-2 | 2022, 43-59.

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Michael Freikman, David Ben-Shlomo et Yosef Garfinkel, « The “Violin-Shaped” Figurines of Tel Tsaf »Paléorient [En ligne], 47-2 | 2022, mis en ligne le 02 mars 2022, consulté le 07 juin 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/1287 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/paleorient.1287

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Auteurs

Michael Freikman

Ariel University

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David Ben-Shlomo

Ariel University

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Yosef Garfinkel

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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