News and Short Contributions

During the aceramic phases of the Levantine Neolithic (ca. 8000-6000 B.c.), a widespread burial cult involving decapitated individuals was practiced (Cauvin 1972). In many instances, separate caches of skulls have been recovered, and, in a few cases these have been plastered with representations of the soft tissues of the face (Ferembach 1970; Ferembach and Lechevallier 1973; Kenyon 1957; Strouhal 1973). The best known examples are the plastered skulls from Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Jericho (Kenyon 1957). The remarkably preserved, decorated skulls and masks from Nahal Hemar, a cave in the Judean Desert, are another example of the detail and skill exhibited by Neolithic artisans in revering their dead (Bar-Yosef and Alon 1988). In 1988, another example of this rarelyencountered mortuary practice was uncovered at 'Ain Ghazal, a major Neolithic center in central Jordan (FIG. 1).