The Pontifical Biblical Institute excavations at Teleilat Ghassul in the Loyola Marymount Archaeological Museum (Los Angeles)

This project proposes to re-evaluate and publish with modern standards the material from Teleilat Ghassul preserved in the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) archaeological museum. Teleilat Ghassul is located on a large 20 ha mound in the south Jordanian Valley, 5 km north east of the Dead Sea Shore. Teleilat Ghassul was excavated by the Pontifical Biblical Institute between 1929 and 1938 by A. Mallon and R. Koeppel, and then by R. North in 1959-1960. Later excavations in 1967 and 1975-77 were conducted by B. Hennessy, and in 1994-1999 by S. Bourke for the University of Sydney expedition. The Australian excavations have clarified the stratigraphy of the site, and re-assessed its importance for our understanding of the emergence of complex societies, urban cult centers, and restricted organized religion; however, the original excavations have yet not been reassessed, and the material excavated prior to 1960 has never been studied nor published with modern scientific methods and standards.

The first settlement at the site dates to the very end of the Neolithic period, around 5,000 BC, and was occupied until the end of the Chalcolithic period (4900-3800 BC). It is characterized by 10 levels of occupation that have yield a new and innovative material culture including cornets, wall paintings with depiction of ceremonial processions, mythical figures and strange animals, clay “spoons”, and vibrantly painted ceramics. Although textiles were not an innovation of the Chalcolithic period, the first identifiable textile tools (spindle-whorls and beaters) are found at chalcolithic sites, and especially at Teleilat Ghassul. The site has also yielded some of the first evidence of fruit growing – including olives and dates.

The site is one of the largest Chalcolithic sites of the Levant, and the namesake for the Ghassulian culture. The Chalcolithic was a formative period for the societies of the Ancient Near East as it witnessed the first integration of religious temples in settlements, the first wall paintings of cultic/religious significance (at Ghassul), and a new and diversified material culture, including craft specialization and metallurgy. While several Chalcolithic sites are known in Israel, the Chalcolithic sites of Jordan (and Syria) are less known. This is why it is critical to have state of the art publications on the material excavated at Teleilat Ghassul by the Pontifical Biblical Institute (PBI), as a better understanding of the material and of its context will further our knowledge of the period.

The publication project is directed by Dr. Caroline Sauvage and Rev. Prof. Josef Mario Briffa SJ