The Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Transition at Teleilat Ghassul: Context, Chronology and Culture

Abstract

Abstract: The issue of the nature of the transition from the Late Neolithic to the Early Chalcolithic at Teleilat Ghassul is re-examined in this article. A stratigraphic review of all work at the site suggests a new equivalencing between Hennessy’s ten-phase (A+-I) and the traditional Pontifical Biblical Institute (PBI) five-level (I-IVB) division. It is suggested that no PBI excavation (Mallon, Koeppel, North) sampled Hennessy’s Neolithic phase H-I assemblages. Once the PBI material is set to one side, a detailed comparison between Hennessy’s Neolithic (phase H-I) and Early Chalcolithic (phase G-F) assemblages is undertaken. Architecture is sharply contrasted, but more nuanced views of the ceramic, lithic and ecofactual assemblages emerge. The Late Neolithic assemblages are closely to be identified with earlier Neolithic norms, whereas the Early Chalcolithic assemblages display all the hallmarks of the later Classic Ghassulian culture. Radiometric data old and new is then considered, with the result that the old high dates for the Ghassul Neolithic are set aside, and a new “low” chronology proposed, based on recent short-life samples. Finally, in the light of the considerable differences between the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic assemblages, we raise anew the question of Ghassulian origins.