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The "Gilat Woman": Female Iconography, Chalcolithic Cult, and the End of Southern Levantine Prehistory Author(S): Alexander H

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The The "Gilat Woman": Female Iconography, Chalcolithic Cult, and the End of Southern Levantine Prehistory Author(s): Alexander H. Joffe, J. P. Dessel, Rachel S. Hallote Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 64, No. 1/2 (Mar. - Jun., 2001), pp. 8-23 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210817 . Accessed: 09/09/2011 14:23 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Near Eastern Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org - - 4, The GilatWoman, a complex representationof a suite of humanconcerns. Multiplelayers of meaning yield insights into the natureof the socio-political and religiouscharacter of late prehistoricvillage society in the southern Levant.From Israeli and Tadmor(1986: fig. 16). 8 NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 64:1-2 (2001) THEt, an "GILATWOMAN" Female Iconography,Chalcolithic Cult, and the End of Southern Levantine Prehistory AlexanderH. Joffe, J. R Desseland Rachel S. Hallote T he relationshipof womento changesin socialpower, pro- duction,and organization is a topicthat has begun to engage archaeologists.Iconographic evidence in particularhas been used to explorethe rolesand status of women in late pre- / historicand earlyhistoric Western Asia (e.g., Gopherand Orelle 1996;Pollock 1991; Wright 1996). Therenewed interest in figurines /4 , Bxi>' mirrorsthe largerissue of incorporatingsymbolism into archaeo- logicalanalyses, with particularemphasis on issues of genderand the individual(Bailey 1994; Hamilton et al.1996; Knapp and Meskell 1997;Robb 1998; cf.Talaly 1993). I H ~~° The "GilatWoman," one of the few examplesof representative C ... artfrom the fourthmillennium Levant, has a notableplace in such discussions (Alon 1976; 1977;Alon and Levy1989; 199o; Amiran ..^^A t - .51a E ^v ._-' 1989;Fox 1995;Weippert 1998). Hersignificance in the contextof ._ ~ -J - -f localand pan-Near Eastern cult practices and competing notions of F female"fertility" is the subjectof this article.Unlike other inter- preters,we believethat the markingson the figurine'sbody and her overall characteristicsand provenancedo not identify her as a "goddess"but ratherwith humanconcerns such as ceremoniallife 1 3 5m passagesand/or highly specific aspects of "fertility."Close studyof the andits contextsalso demonstrates the mul- figurine comparative The find of the Gilat Woman. The was recovered from levelsof cultthat characterized late societies spot figure tiple prehistoricvillage Room A in Stratum III.From Alon and Levy (1989: fig. 2). andthe fusionof religiousand political strategies by controlling male elites. The natureof these powerstrategies, based fundamentally that into the southernCoastal Plain. First discovered in the in shamanisticaccess to the supernaturaland political economic con- grades excavationswere undertaken in the and in the trol of relatedsymbols and materials,are key for understanding 1950s, 1970s again late and 1990s. Four dividedinto a numberof the evolutionarylimitations of the southernLevant compared to 198os early strata, werefound. The Gilat Woman was foundin stratum other regions.Finally, the GilatWoman is a symbolof the transi- subphases, III, in a room m x m This Room was tional natureof the southernLevantine Chalcolithic period, at the approximately3 4.5 large. unit, A, locatedin the middleof a structureflanked twoother rooms end of a long streamof traditionthat beganin the Paleolithic. long by and formeda complexsome 16 m long.Another structure was ori- TheGilat Woman in Context ented at a right angle to it, creatingan open courtyard.The Gilat Gilat is a ten-hectaresite located to the northwest of the Beer- Womanwas foundwith a similarlystyled figurineof a ramcarry- shevabasin on the banksof the NahalPatish in a transitionalzone ing threecornets. Some 68 additionalobjects were found in Room NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 64/1-2 (2001) 9 TheWorld of the Chalcolithic Principal sites TheChalcolithic period in the south- in mentioned text em Levantis characterizedas a period ofvillage-levelagro-pastoralism, craft sc-.' m,lnq ., production,which saw the emergence i/ ~ of rankedsociety and possibly "chiefs" (Levyand Holl 1988; Gilead 1988). Materialculture evidence indi- catesthat the "classic"features of the Chalcolithicperiod developed out of locallate PotteryNeolithic , cultures,especially the southern Qat- ~"~' ifiantradition, which then supplants s/ r~' othertraditions, such as theWadi (' i / Rabaculture (Gilead 1990; Gopher EnGed*l \ j/ ^andGophna 1993). Radiocarbon evi- .~~~~/ ~ Nahal Mshmar * / Gilat. j I) dence suggests that the classic The famous figurineof a ram bearingthree cornets was found in Beersheva-Ghassul tradition or Beer B.o*Sheva (/-, ) association with the GilatWoman. From Israeli and Tadmor(1966: ~.J "DevelopedChalcolithic" emerged fig.17). by4500 BCEand surviveduntil ca. 3700 BCE (Joffe and Dessel 1995; A, including several stone "violin"figurines, palettes, incense 10 -3= see also Gilead 1994; Levy 1992).A burnersand a macehead(Levy and Alon 1993). numberof regionaltraditions are The locationof Gilatand other The Gilat Woman is a 31 cm tall, hollow terracottafigurine certain of Chalcolithiceyhalcolithic sftessites inthe ther apparent,sharing aspects (Alon 1976; Alon and Levy1989:90). The nude, barrel-shaped key materialculture and southernkoutheyLevant. iconography woman sits atop a biconical stool. Her right arm is raised and a differentmixture of bututilizing helps balance a twin handled churn with broken neck on her agro-pastoralstrategies. The most highly developed and best-known head. Her left arm holds a small biconical vessel, possibly an of the southernCoastal traditionis foundin an arcfrom the edge incense altar,against her upperbody, and the left hand rests on on Plain,across the Beershevabasin and out to the site of Ghassul her body above the leg. There is no true division in the northeastmargin of the DeadSea. clayor paint betweenthe righthand and the churn, Thevillages of theBeersheva basin, including well-known sites the left hand and the body, or the head and the suchas Bires-Safadi, Tell Abu Matar, and Shiqmim, are located along churn. Her hands and feet are schematized with the banksof the NahalBeersheva drainage and utilized floodwater incised lines representingthe fingersand toes. She craft farming.They also contain extensive evidence for specialized has small, slightly protrudingbreasts, a largenavel and andShalev Per- productionof copper ivoryobjects ( Levy 1989; and exaggerated and enlarged lower rot Other Chalcolithicsites include the 1984). importantdeveloped genitalia, enhanced by her sitting site of Ghassul et al. the isolated structure at type (Mallon 1934), positions. Pubic hair is indicated by EnGedi (Ussishkin 1980), burial caves in theCoastal Plain (Perrot small incisions.The only plasticfeatures and Ladiray1980; van den Brink 1998), and the spectacularcache of her face are the nose and small ears. of copperobjects in theNahal Mishmar cave (Bar-Adon 1980). The mouth is not represented. Circles of Thedecline of theDeveloped Chalcolithic began by 39oo/3800 redpaint representher eyes and there BCE andwas characterizedby the gradualabandonment of many is also a circle around the nose. Two sites. The TerminalChalcolithic phase, ca. 3700-3500 BCE, saw verticallines descendfrom her eyes to thealmost complete collapse of thesettlement system of thenorth- belowthe levelof herbreasts, and two in such ernNegev, although there is greatercontinuity otherregions sets of verticalwavy lines are in front as the JordanValley. The beginning of the subsequent Early of her ears like sideburns. The legs, BronzeI periodmay now be dated to, or even before, 3500 BCE(Joffe arms and torso of the figure are andDessel 1995). The Early Bronze Age is characterizedby the re- coveredwith horizontalbands of the emergenceof verylarge village and fortified "urban" settlement, a of Egyptian"colonial" system in the southernCoastal Plain, and This "violinfigurine" is one sixty- found in RoomA with the highlevels of Mediterraneancrop production and exchange (Joffe eight objects Gilatwoman. FromLevy and Alon 1993). (1993:1. - -- 515).. 1 10 NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 64:1-2 (2001) LEFT:The culticsignificance of the head inthe in of two and threelines. The bandsare paint groups Chalcolithicplastic arts is indicatedby a vertical at the ankle but become wavy lines at the numberof findsincluding this ceramicossuary. wrists. The churn and biconical stool were covered From Israel and Tadmor(1986: fig. 20). with red paint as well. Some fragments of the BELOW:Evidence from woman and of the ram were also found in a Mesopotamia suggests that tatooing was practicedthere. room of the (Alon 1976:77; neighboring building Thisfigurine dates to the Halafperiod and Alon and Levy 1989:90). comes fromthe site of the same name. From Fox recentlysuggested that the Gilat figurine Huot (1994: cover). was a goddess whose decorationrepresents body painting, and that she and the accompanying ' Jordan,as well as the frontonsof ceramic
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