As Jericho’s wealth grew, the need for protection against ma-
rauding nomads resulted in the first known permanent stone fortifi-
cations. By approximately 7500 BCE, a wide rock-cut ditch and a
5-foot-thick wall surrounded the town, estimated to have had a pop-
ulation of more than 2,000 people. Into the circuit wall, which has
been preserved to a height of almost 13 feet, was built a great circu-
lar tower (FIG. 1-14) of roughly shaped stones laid without mortar
and originally about 30 feet high. Almost 33 feet in diameter at the
base, the tower has an inner stairway leading to its summit. (Today, a
grate covers the entrance to the stairway.) Not enough of the site has
been excavated to determine whether this tower was solitary or one
of several similar towers that formed a complete defense system. In
either case, a structure as large as this was a tremendous technologi-
cal achievement and a testimony to the builders’ ability to organize a
significant workforce. The walls and tower(s) of Jericho mark the
beginning of the long history of monumental architecture.
AIN GHAZALNear Amman, Jordan, the construction of a
highway in 1974 revealed another important Neolithic settlement in
ancient Palestine at the site of Ain Ghazal, occupied from ca. 7200 to
ca. 5000 BCE. The inhabitants built houses of irregularly shaped
stones, but carefully plastered and then painted their floors and walls
red. The most striking finds at Ain Ghazal, however, are two caches
containing three dozen plaster statuettes (FIG. 1-15) and busts,
some with two heads, datable to ca. 6500 BCE. The sculptures appear
to have been ritually buried. The figures were fashioned of white
plaster, which was built up over a core of reeds and twine. The sculp-
tors used black bitumen, a tarlike substance, to delineate the pupils
of the eyes. On some of the later figures painters added clothing.
Only rarely did the artists indicate the gender of the figures. What-
ever their purpose, by their size (as much as three feet tall) and
sophisticated technique, the Ain Ghazal statuettes and busts are dis-
tinguished from Paleolithic figurines such as the tiny Venus of Wil-
lendorf(FIG. 1-5) and even the foot-tall Hohlenstein-Stadel ivory
statuette (FIG. 1-4). They mark the beginning of monumental sculp-
ture in the ancient Near East.
ÇATAL HÖYÜKRemarkable discoveries also have been made in
Anatolia. Excavations at Hacilar, Çatal Höyük, and elsewhere have
shown that the central Anatolian plateau was the site of a flourishing
Neolithic culture between 7000 and 5000 BCE. Twelve successive build-
ing levels excavated at Çatal Höyük between 1961 and 1965 have been
dated between 6500 and 5700 BCE. On a single site, it is possible to re-
trace the evolution of a Neolithic culture over a period of 800 years. Animportant source of Çatal Höyük’s wealth was trade, especially in ob-
sidian, a glasslike volcanic stone Neolithic toolmakers and weapon
makers valued highly because it could be chipped into fine cutting
edges. Along with Jericho, Çatal Höyük seems to have been one of the
first experiments in urban living. The regularity of its plan suggests that
the town was built according to some predetermined scheme. A pecu-
liar feature is the settlement’s complete lack of streets. The houses ad-
join one another and have no doors (FIG. 1-16). Openings in the roofs
provided access to the interiors. The openings also served as chimneys
to ventilate the hearth in the combination living room and kitchen that1-15Human figure,
from Ain Ghazal, Jordan,
ca. 6750–6250 BCE. Plaster,
painted and inlaid with
bitumen, 3 53 – 8 high.
Louvre, Paris.
The dozens of large white
plaster statuettes, some
with two heads and with
details added in paint,
found at Ain Ghazal date
to the mid-seventh
millennium BCEand are
the earliest large
sculptures known.1-16Restored view
of a section of Level VI,
Çatal Höyük, Turkey,
ca. 6000–5900 BCE
(John Swogger).
Archaeologists have discov-
ered 12 successive building
levels at Çatal Höyük. The
houses in this early city ad-
joined one another and had
no doors. Openings in the
roofs provided access to the
interiors.Neolithic Art 251 ft.1-14AHuman
skull with re-
stored features,
Jericho, ca.
7000–6000 BCE.