Dancing at the Dawn of Agriculture

Chapter 7: Neolithic Near East

chapter 7 Neolithic Near East Dancing figures from twelve Neolithic Near Eastern sites are presented in this study (Sites 1–12). These were discovered in the Levant, northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Cyprus (Fig. 7.1) and are dated to the eighth and seventh millennia bc. They are presented below in chronological order. The dancing scenes were depicted on a variety of objects, using different techniques: Engraving. The earliest scenes, dated to the eighth millennium bc, appear before the introduction of pottery and were engraved on stone vessels and slabs (Figs. 7.3:a, 7.6:a–b). This technique almost completely disappeared during the seventh and sixth millennia bc but was revived in the early fourth millennium bc when dancing scenes were adopted by seal cutters. Applied Plastic Relief. With the introduction of pottery in the early seventh millennium bc, dancing scenes begin to appear on clay vessels. With this technique the potter modeled strips of clay in the form of the human body and applied them to the vessel’s exterior. Sometimes other details, such as fingers and toes, were emphasized by incisions. Most of the items from the Neolithic Near East were made by applied plastic relief (Figs. 7.7, 7.8:a–b, d–e, 7.9:a–b). Painting. Painting was quite rare at this early stage. One example of a painted plaster floor, one painted plastered wall, and one pottery vessel have been reported (Figs. 7.4, 7.9:c, 10.10:a). Incision. In this technique the dancing figure was incised on the surface of the pottery vessel before firing. One such example has been reported from the Neolithic Near East (Fig. 7.8:c). 1. nevali çori This site is located in the middle Euphrates region in southeast Turkey. A large Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village, dated to the eighth millennium bc, was unearthed, revealing a rich assemblage of art objects. One outstanding find was a large public structure with benches, two monumental pillars, and a niche. A collection of life-sized anthropomorphic stone statues was unearthed inside it. This building is one of the earliest examples of a temple in the ancient Near East. An object of special interest from this site is an engraved fragment of a rounded stone basin (Figs. 7.2, 7.3:a; Bienert and Fritz 1989; Yakar 1991:315; Hauptmann 1993, Fig. 27). It bears a scene depicting three complete figures presented frontally in line. At the broken edges, traces of additional figures can be seen, but their nature remains unclear. The two outer figures are clearly human. They resemble one another, and both are larger than the figure in the center. Many details of the human body are shown: head, face, two hands, fingers, torso, legs, and toes. The arms are bent upwards, and the hands clearly end in fingers. The legs are figure 7.1 Near Eastern Neolithic sites mentioned in the text. 113 figure 7.2 Engraved limestone bowl from Nevali Çori. Courtesy of Harald Hauptmann, German Archaeological Institute, Istanbul. figure 7.3 Engraved objects from the Near East: a. Nevali Çori, limestone fragment, ca. 19 x 13 cm (after Hauptmann 1993, Figure 27). b. Tepe Giyan, stamp seal, ca. 4 x 2.5 cm (after Herzfeld 1933, Figure 25). 114 the Data separate, also shown partly horizontally and partly vertically, and end in feet and toes. This is a very dynamic representation of the human body, clearly expressing a dancing position. The character of the central figure is less clear, since it was schematically engraved. The head is shaped like a rhombus with two eyes. The body is rounded in a very exaggerated way. Two arms rise diagonally, and two short legs extend diagonally downwards. When published, this figure was identified as a turtle. However, it has no tail or chequered shell. Alternative interpretations are that the scene represents a family celebrating a new birth (Uzunoglu 1993:43, Item A-43) or a tortoiselike pregnant figure (Yakar 1991:315). Thus it seems that the central figure should rather be understood as a woman. Similar depictions of the female body can be found at the site of Köç c sk Höyük in Anatolia, dated to the seventh millennium bc (Fig. 7.7). A scene of two dancing men flanking a woman also appears on a later stamp seal from Tepe Giyan (Fig. 7.3:b; Herzfeld 1933, Fig...