The Yarwhosians? - The BAS Library
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Home > Magazines > Archaeology Odyssey > May/June 2000

The Yarwhosians?

You may not have heard of them, but the civilized Neolithic Yarmukians created some of the world’s earliest clay sculptures.

By Yosef Garfinkel, Michele Miller

Prepare to fall in love—with our friends the Yarmukians. Since they lived almost 8,000 years ago, about 3,000 years before people began communicating in writing, you can’t ask them who they were. And even if you could, it’s doubtful you would understand their answer; we don’t even know what language they spoke. But we don’t need to speak to the Yarmukians to know something about their intricate and interesting lives. We only have to look at the material they left behind—the buildings they lived and worked in, the tools they used to produce and cook their food, the […]

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Endnotes

1.

In a recently published book on urban development from late prehistory until the First Temple period, Ze’ev Herzog describes the Yarmukian era as “a major breakdown … The collapse is evident from the disintegration of all major settlements and the erection of small villages. The dominant dwelling form in this period is the circular house; in most cases these were only circular pits that formed the lower part of huts” (Ze’ev Herzog, Archaeology of the City [Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, 1997], p. 27).

2.

In Israel, for example: Munhata, Hamadiya, Habashan Street (Tel Aviv), Megiddo, Nahal Qanah Cave, Horvat Uza and Tel Qishion; in Lebanon: Byblos; in Jordan: Abu Tawwab, ‘Ain Ghazal, ‘Ein Rahub.