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Ritual, art and society in the Levantine Chalcolithic: the ‘Processional’ wall painting from Teleilat Ghassul

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2015

Bernadette Drabsch  and
Stephen Bourke
Bernadette Drabsch
Affiliation:
School of Design, Communication and Information Technology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia (Email: Bernadette.Drabsch@newcastle.edu.au)
Stephen Bourke
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia (Email stephen.bourke@sydney.edu.au)
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Abstract

The fragmentary ‘Processional’ wall painting from Teleilat Ghassul in Jordan is here shown to depict a religious procession involving eight individuals rather than the three identified in the original 1970s reconstruction. All of the figures wear masks and carry objects, but elaborately robed leaders, members perhaps of a dedicated priestly class, are clearly distinguished from their naked attendants. The scene belongs to the Late Chalcolithic period when Levantine society was becoming increasingly hierarchical, and the wall painting as a whole illustrates the prominent role of elites in ritual practices at this critical period of social transformation.

Keywords

JordanChalcolithicritual practicewall paintingpriestly classsocial hierarchyvisual narrative
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 342 , December 2014 , pp. 1081 - 1098
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

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