The neolithic megasite at Tel Moẓa in Israel selected interpretation issues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/AAL/2024/70/2Keywords:
Tel Moẓa; Levant; Neolithic; sacred buildings; Neolithic megasites; pier housesAbstract
The remains of Neolithic settlements from different eras discovered at the Moẓa site in Israel fit well into the process of creation and development of community architecture, characteristic of the entire Middle East, which also takes into account the sacred purposes. Initially the sacred function was fulfilled by small domestic chapels, later larger community buildings with a larger, also non-cultual, purpose. The culmination of this process was the appearance of monumental sacred buildings.
Multi-room houses erected on a rectangular plan took on local variations in various parts of the Middle East. In Moẓa, have been discovered buildings are a variant of this type of house, which reflects the process of diffusion of rectangular construction and the differentiation of building functions. Some of the great buildings discovered here may have had sacred functions.
The results of the excavations at Moẓa prove that during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (6-5 millenia BC) in the southern Levant there were large villages with developed construction, agriculture, crafts and extensive trade links. This leads to the conclusion that the Levant region during the PPNB played an important role in the transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary life. The archaeological data obtained during the excavations at Moẓa can become a serious argument in the discussion of this transformation.
References
Akkermans P.M.M.G., Schwartz G.M. (2003): The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societes (c.16000-300 bc), Cambridge University Press.
Anspach M. R. (2019): Every Man’s House Was His Temple: Mimetic Dynamics in the Transition from Aşıklı Höyük to Çatalhöyük; Hodder I. (ed.), Religion, History, and Place in the Origin of Settled Life, University Press of Colorado, pp.186-211.
Anton M. (2020): Death at Motza: Variability in the Treatment of Human Remains; The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (red. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 201-222.
Aurenche O., Kozłowski S. K. (1999): La naissance du Néolitique au Proche Orient ou Le paradis perdu.
Białowarczuk M. (2013): Architektura Północnego Lewantu, Taurusu i Północnej Mezopotamii od połowy XI do początku IX tysiąclecia B. C. (thèse de doctorat; Institut d'Archéologie, Université de Varsovie).
Byrd B. F., Banning E. B. (1988): Southern Levantine Pier Houses: Intersite Architectural Patterning During Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Paléorient, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 65-72.
Childe G.V. (1950): The Urban Revolution, The Town Planning Review 21/1 3–17. DOI: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40102108?origin=JSTOR-pdf.
Garfinkel Y. (2018): The Iron Age Clay Figurine Head, Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 4. Excavation Report 2007–2013: Art, Cult, and Epigraphy, éd. Y. Garfinkel – S. Ganor – M.G. Hasel; Jerusalem: Jerusalem Israel Exploration Society, 143–163.
Goring-Morris A. N., Belfer-Cohen A. (2020): Highlighting the PPNB in the Southern Levant, Neo-Lithics, 3-22.
Goring-Morris A. N., Belfer-Cohen A. (2013): Houses and Households: a Near Eastern Perspective; Hofmann D., Smyth J. (éd.), Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe Sedentism, Architecture and Practice, 19-44.
Kenyon K. M. (1981): Excavations at Jericho, Volume 3, The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell. London: The British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.
Khalaily H., Bar-Yosef O., Barzilai O., Boaretto E., Bocquentin F., Eirikh-Rose A., Greenhut Z., Goring-Morris A. N., Le Dosseur G., Marder O., Sapir-Hen L., Yizhaq M. (2007): Excavations at Motza in the Judean Hills and the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B in the southern Levant, Paléorient 33.2., 5-37.
Khalaily H., Marder O., Barzilai O. (2007): La diversité des systèmes techniques des communautés du Néolithique pré-céramique : vers la caractérisation des comportements sociaux, 5e colloque international sur les industries lithiques du Néolithique pré-céramique, sous la direction de L. Astruc, D. Binder et F. Briois, Éditions APDCA, Antibes (An Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B blade cache from Motza,West of Jerusalem, Israel | omry barzilai - Academia.edu)
Khalaily H., Vardi J. (2020): The New Excavations at Motza: An Architectural Perspective on a Neolithic ‘Megasite’ in the Judean Hills: The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (éd. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 69–100.
Khalaily H., Re’em A., Vardi J., Milevski I. (2020): Foreword: The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (éd. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 9–18.
Kisilevitz S., Lipschits O. (2020): Another Temple in Judah!, Biblical Archaeology Review 46/1, 40–49.
Mazurowski R. F., Kanjou Y. (2012): Tell Qaramel 1999–2007. Protoneolithic and Early Pre-pottery Neolithic Settlement in Northern Syria / Un village protonéolithique et préceramique en Syrie du Nord (=PCMA Excavation Series 2), Warsaw: PCMA.
Milevski I., Lupu R., Bischoff E. (2020): The Late Pottery Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Period at Motza and Its Surroundings: A New Horizon Emerging in the Judean Hills: The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (éd. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 241-264.
Nigro L. (2017): Beheaded Acestors. Of Skulls and Statues in Pre-Pottery Neolithic Jericho; Scienze dell'Antichità 23.3, 3-30.
Rollefson G. O. (1998): 'Ain Ghazal (Jordan) : ritual and ceremony III. In: Paléorient, vol. 24, n°1, 43-58.
Shatil A., Levy A., Milevski I. (2020): Living in a Capsule: The Early Bronze Age I Village at Motza: The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (éd. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 265-294.
Simmons A. H. (2010): The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East. Taransforming the Human Lanndscape. University of Arizona Press, Tocson.
Watkins T. (2020): Setting the Neolithic of Southwest Asia in Its Evolutionary Context; The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (éd. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 19-36.
Vardi J., Yegorov D., Khalaily H. 2020. Daily Life at the Final Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Megasite of Motza (Judean Hills) Based on the Material Culture; The Motza (Moẓa) Excavations and Beyond, The Mega Project at Motza (Moẓa): The Neolithic and Later Occupations up to the 20th Century. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Supplementary Volume (red. H. Khalaily, A. Re’em, J. Vardi, I. Milevski; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 101-130.
