A Radiographic Examination of an 8,500-year-old Plastered Skull from Jericho

Michelle Bonogofsky

A common belief states that the skulls of male elders and leaders were plastered and painted as part of an ancestor cult during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period in the Levant. The first such skulls were found by Kathleen Kenyon at Jericho in 1953. Kenyon initially viewed them as portrait skulls of venerated ancestors, most likely those of men who had been tribal or family elders. A similar line of thought regarding the decorated skulls continued as more specimens were discovered in Syria, Israel, and Jordan, despite conflicting anthropological evidence. This paper presents ethnographic parallels from Melanesia, the reported ages and sexes of the Jericho skulls, and my own preliminary radiographic study, as part of an examination of the stated ages and sexes of the individuals who skulls were set apart for special treatment.

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