GS2-4

Religious Monuments: Structures and Sculptures From the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) in the Ancient Arab Orient (Levant)

Ghieth Alwarah & Ram Sateesh Pasupuleti

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee IITR, India

In the 12th millennium BC, there was a significant shift in habitation patterns and residency with a move to more sedentary occupation along riverbanks and on the slopes and hills of the Levant (Tells). Along with new forms of social organisation and economy, novel ideologies and types of Worship emerged that continued into the region's pre-pottery Neolithic (PPN) period (10,000 - 6500 BP). These belief systems encompassed anthropomorphism and the production of figurines, first in animal and later in human form.   However, it is still unclear exactly when these new ideologies first appear. This research project focuses on defining, recording, and identifying some techniques for constructing the earliest potential places of Worship identified at the PPN sites. Like Mureybet, Jerf el Ahmar, Sheikh Hasan, and Halula in the ancient Arab Orient. and other sites: Ain Ghazal, Gobekli tepe. The project also aims to determine whether there is a relationship between shifting from hunting and gathering. To animal domestication and agriculture and the first appearance of places and beliefs of Worship in the region.