Hala Alarashi

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Archaeology of Social Dynamics. CSIC-IMF, Barcelona

This paper discusses the qualities of the “butterfly beads”, which are an important component of the North Mesopotamian and Anatolian ornamental tradition that have developed at the end of the 8th and during the 7th millennium BCE. Among the diversity of stones used for their shaping, quartz microcrystalline varieties, in particular carnelian and a...

Tooth enamel and dentin are the most studied hard tissues used to explore hominin evolution, life history, diet, health, and culture. Surprisingly, cementum (the interface between the alveolar bone and the root dentin) remains the least studied dental tissue even though its unique growth, which is continuous throughout life, has been acknowledged s...

Que savons-nous des parures des premiers paysans du monde ? Partons à la découverte des techniques de fabrication de ces objets si particuliers, de leurs remarquables qualités esthétiques, et des vastes réseaux de circulation établis pour acquérir les précieux matériaux au Proche-Orient. Un voyage qui nous amène à nous interroger sur le rôle symbol...

The burials at the Neolithic cemetery Kadruka 23 in Sudan have yielded adornments and bone and lithic artefacts that occur as distinct stages of the chaîne opératoire . This article reports on a hitherto unrecognised funerary practice that highlights the importance of craftsmanship for Neolithic communities in life and beyond.

Boncuklar, yaş, cinsiyet, grup aidiyeti gibi çeşitli kimliklerin ifade edildiği karmaşık bir iletişim sisteminin parçası olarak tarihöncesi topluluklar için çok katmanlı anlamlar taşımaktaydı. Bu çalışmada, Orta Anadolu’nun doğu- sunda, Volkanik Kapadokya bölgesinde yer alan Aşıklı Höyük yerleşmesinde (MÖ kal. 8350-7300) boncukların yaş ve cinsiyet...

Cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une longue et étroite collaboration entre une équipe française comprenant des spécialistes de nombreuses disciplines archéologiques et paléo-environnementales et un institut de recherche djiboutien dédié à la recherche archéologique et historique. Leur terrain d’étude se situe dans le bassin du Gobaad, des abords du lac A...

The subterranean mines of Gavà were among the main sources of variscite exploited and distributed in the West Mediterranean basin during the Middle Neolithic (1st half of the 4th millennium BC). The recent excavations of three mines (83, 84 and 85) at the Ferreres sector shed new light not only on the economic aspects, but also on an unknown ritual...

Increasing social differentiation and the emergence of collective identities are considered to be fundamental changes brought about by Neolithisation. Commitment and loyalty – and therefore socialization within the group – became important elements in Neolithic agricultural communities. Henceforth, personal identities were probably mainly determine...

Personal ornaments carry interwoven meanings and are part of a complex system of communication where certain identities could be signified (age, gender, ethnic group, etc.). In this study, it is aimed to investigate the role that beads played in manifesting identities of age and gender in an early Neolithic community, Aşıklı Höyük (8350-7300 cal BC...

The gradual increase in number, diversity and complexity of stone beads during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) indicates constant improvements in skills, work organization and tools. Based on macro- and microscopic observations of beads, and on experimental replications, I will propose a list of lithic tools that were most likely employed in bead-m...

The Gavà mines are among the main sources of extraction, production and distribution of variscite in Western Europe during the Middle Neolithic (1st half of the 4th millennium BC). Recent excavations at Ferreres sector of Gavà shed new light not only on these economic aspects, but also on an unknown ritual and symbolic dimension. Indeed, two burial...

http://www.cepam.cnrs.fr/evenement/lart-du-paraitre-les-apparences-de-lhumain-de-la-prehistoire-a-nos-jours/

In 2016, an extraordinary burial of a young adult individual was discovered at the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, 7,500-6,900 BCE) settlement of Ba'ja in southern Jordan. This burial has exceptional grave goods and an elaborate grave construction. It suggests discussing anew reconstructions of early Neolithic social structures. In this articl...

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site of Tell Halula in the middle Euphrates valley has yielded large quantities of cowrie shells used in the composition of belts and diadems. These shells were discovered in burials as complete items composing ornaments and in outdoor contexts as broken halves. In this paper we shed light on a little known PPNB o...

The study of butterfly beads, which first appeared during the tenth millennium cal. bc , covers an important span of the Neolithization process and gives new insights on the symbolic and socio-economic systems of the first farming communities in the Near East. By the end of the Pre-pottery Neolithic, butterfly beads acquired sophisticated shapes an...

Two perforated dog molars were found directly associated with a Kura-Araxes child burial from the third millennium BC in Armenia. Both teeth show trimming of the root ends and boring of a biconical hole through the lingual root with a hand-held stone tool. Expedient manufacture, the anatomical location of the hole and use-wear suggest that the mola...

La présente communication expose un éventail varié, mais non exhaustif, de travaux menés par les chercheurs du Cepam où le MEB-EDS s’est révélé crucial: détermination de pigments préhistoriques, traces de fabrication de perles, identification de résidus sur outils en silex, identification et caractérisation de charbons de bois.

Au cours de la Néolithisation au Proche-Orient, les bouleversements majeurs survenus au niveau de l’organisation socio-économique des communautés humaines (sédentarisation, agriculture et élevage) se sont accompagnés de changements dans le domaine techno-symbolique. Le présent travail a permis de caractériser l’une des principales manifestations ma...

Drills are a particularly common tool type in the Khiamian, a period of rapid historical change in the Near East. In the Khiamian levels at Tell Mureybet, Wadi Tumbaq 1 and Nachcharini, they were used mainly to perforate stone beads. This can be appreciated from the use-wear marks on the active areas and the residue conserved on them. All the evide...

Un grand nombre d’éléments de parure en pierre a été trouvé dans les niveaux épipaléolithiques et néolithiques du site de Mureybet en Syrie. La composition minéralogique de plus de 50 % des artefacts a été identifiée à l’aide de la méthode de diffractométrie par rayons X. Les résultats ont révélé une origine exogène de la matière première pour plus...

La domestication animale apparaît au Proche-Orient vers la fin du IXe et le début du VIIIe millénaire. Selon les données archéologiques, la naissance d'un nouveau mode de vie, le nomadisme pastoral, pourrait alors remonter à la fin du PPNB (fin du VIIe millénaire), dans les régions arides ou semi-arides de Syrie et de Jordanie, peu favorables en pr...