OUTSIDE OUR USUAL DATE RANGE, but here are a couple of intriguing stories about prehistoric matters:
First, a six-fingered Neolithic woman, perhaps a shaman.
Excavation near Jerusalem finds 9,000-year-old six-fingered Neolithic shaman woman. The woman had six fingers on her left hand, a characteristic that in ancient cultures was often interpreted as a sign of distinction and spiritual authority (Jerusalem Post).
Funerary objects found alongside the woman, including green stone necklaces and mother-of-pearl jewelry, reinforce the hypothesis of her importance within Neolithic society.
The underlying, open-access article has been published in the journal ‘Atiqot :
The Emergence of Worship and Religion in the Neolithic Period: Direct and Indirect Evidence from Moẓa (Motza)
Authors
Hamoudi Khalaily, Israel Antiquities Authority
Anna Eirikh-Rose, Israel Antiquities Authority
Ianir Milevski, Israel Antiquities Authority
Abstract
Evidence of worship and religion in the form of architectural remains is rather scanty before the shift in human behavior, from hunter-gatherers to sedentary communities, and the emergence of permanent settlements. Communal and ritual structures first appeared in the Natufian culture (12,500–9400 BCE) and expanded during the Neolithic period (9400–5300 BCE), alongside the treatment of burials linked to ritual related to ancestor worship. The excavations at Motza’s Final PPNB (7100–6700 BCE) layer exposed many non-residential structures, some presumably used for worship and ritual. Some burials, including the one interpreted here as a shaman burial, included objects of symbolic importance. Cultic structures continued to exist and became more prominent in the LPN (5600–5300 BCE). Architecture and material culture suggest that the non-residential buildings at Motza were designed for community rituals during the PPNB and PN. Interestingly, most of these structures relate to perennial water sources, perhaps indicating their importance in ritual ceremonies.
This story caught my eye because of the recent work I have been doing on biblical giants (with reference to the
Book of Giants). It made me think of this passage in
1 Samuel 21:18-22 (New English Bible translation, my bold emphasis):
18 Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, killed him. 22 These four were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed by David and his soldiers.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Rephaim (same as "the descendants of Rapha") have two roles. Occasionally the word means "ghost" (e.g., Prov 21:16, Isa 14:9). More often it refers to the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land of Israel, at least some of whom were remembered as giants and/or kings (e.g., Og the giant in Deut 3:11).
In the stil earlier Ugaritic texts, the cognate word Rapi’uma means the spirits of ancestral kings.
With that as background, the discovery of the grave of a six-fingered woman of some status who would have been ancient to the ancient Israelites could be of some interest in a way not noticed by the authors of the ‘Atiqot article or the Jerusalem Post article. Was there a pre-Israelite genetic line of high-status people (shamans or whatever) who were remembered as among the ancient Rephaim? Were other graves containing their skeletons happened upon by the Israelites? Did some of them even survive among the Canaanites in David's day? All quite speculative, but worth at least flagging.
One fun thing about blogging is that I can speculate when I want to. I blog, you decide.
By the way, if you think it's implausible that ancient Israelites had an antiquarian interest, it is well documented that the Canaanites who preceded them collected Egyptian antiquities. See this recent Bible History Daily essay by Nathan Steinmeyer: When Canaanites Go Antiquing. How did so much Egyptian art end up at Hazor?
Most of the media coverage on Tel Motza (Tel Moza, Tel Moẓa, Tel Moẓah which I have seen involves Iron Age discoveres, especially the Canaanite temple. For PaleoJudaica posts on the site, start here and follow the links.
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Second, I have noted elsewhere (here and here) the possibility that very ancient megascale architechture in the Land of Israel could have contributed to the biblical notion that there were giants in the distant past. For that reason and others, I like to keep track of developments about such architechture, even if I don't mention it very often. This story caught my eye:
Mystery unsolved: Ancient Golan stone circle not an astronomical observatory after all. Geomagnetic analysis and tectonic reconstruction refute widespread theory about ‘Stonehenge of the East’; dozens of unknown structures also found near intriguing Rujm el-Hiri site (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel)
A new study utilizing advanced remote sensing technology and data analysis has found it is unlikely that Rujm el-Hiri, an ancient stone megalithic structure in the Golan Heights, was used as an observatory as many had surmised.
By using “geomagnetic analysis and tectonic reconstruction” of land movement in the Golan over time, the Tel Aviv University team discovered that Rujm el-Hiri has shifted and rotated at an average rate of 8-15 mm per year — meaning it had moved tens of meters since its construction around 3000–2700 BCE.
The point is that the supposed astronomical correspondences at the site as it stands may not have obtained at the time it was built. It has slowly, presumably coincidentally, rotated into them over thousands of years. If so, the case for it being some kind of astronomical observatory is much weakened.
Naturally this conclusion is debated. For the details, see the following article. But my quote from it is for another purpose.
Controversy Over Rujm El Hiri: Could Israel's Stone Circles Be a Celestial Observatory After All? Israeli and American experts agree with new research showing that that the entire Arabian plate is rotating, and with it Israel and the ancient site of Rujm el Hiri – but the question is, how fast? (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).
Actually, he adds, the local Druze knew of the site. They called it "the Stone Heap of the Wildcats." How romantic, though there are not many wildcats left. Israel calls it Gilgal Refa'im: Wheel of Spirits (or Ghosts, or Giants) because of its shape. So, is the wheel spinning, albeit not by levitating but with the whole Arabian plate?
The story is interesting on its own terms. And, of course, it has the Rephaim in it, presumably because someone inferred that such a megascale construction must have been built by ancient giants.
But beyond that—and apropos of nothing, really—when I hear about a piece of rotating megascale architecture called the "Ghost Wheel," I can't be the only one who thinks of Roger Zelazny's classic epic fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber. Can I?
If that doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry about it. It will to some readers. I do recommend the series if you like such things.
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