Gazelles, Liminality, and Chalcolithic Ritual: A Case Study from Marj Rabba, Israel

Price, Max D.; Hill, Austin C.; Rowan, Yorke M.; Kersel, Morag M.

Abstract

Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of the ancient Near East. In various contexts, the gazelle has represented liminality, death, and rebirth. Gazelles held special significance in the southern Levant, where archaeologists have documented cases, spanning 20,000 years, of ritual behavior involving gazelle body parts. What roles did gazelles play during the Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 B.C.), a period of both decreased hunting and ritual intensification? In this article, we discuss a unique find of burned gazelle feet at the site of Marj Rabba (northern Israel). The feet were found within a well-constructed building that was used for rituals and included two articulated human feet. The gazelle foot bones, the majority of which derive from adult male mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella), appear to reflect the remains of intentionally destroyed skins or severed limbs. This unique find highlights the evolving symbolic importance of gazelles, perhaps as forces of liminality, in Chalcolithic rituals.

Citation

Price, M. D., Hill, A. C., Rowan, Y. M., & Kersel, M. M. (2016). Gazelles, Liminality, and Chalcolithic Ritual: A Case Study from Marj Rabba, Israel. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 376, 7-27. https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.376.0007

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2023
• Journal: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
• Print ISSN: 0003-097X
• Electronic ISSN: 2161-8062
• Publisher: American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR)
• Volume: 376
• Pages: 7-27
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.376.0007
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1177505