Butterfly Beads in the Neolithic Near East: Evolution, Technology and Socio-cultural Implications

Abstract

The study of butterfly beads, which first appeared during the tenth millennium cal. bc, covers an important span of the Neolithization process and gives new insights on the symbolic and socio-economic systems of the first farming communities in the Near East. By the end of the Pre-pottery Neolithic, butterfly beads acquired sophisticated shapes and became appreciably larger. Simultaneously, the choice of raw materials changed towards brighter and more colourful allochthonous rocks. These changes reflect a desire to make the butterfly beads more conspicuous as well as an increased demand for ‘prestige’ materials. The technological mastery required to shape and perforate these beads suggests craft specialization and changes in social organization. The morphological and technological complexity of these items, the aesthetic quality of their raw materials, the variability in the degrees of use-wear, along with the particularity of the archaeological contexts, imply a polysemantic reading of their symbolic functions. Butterfly beads were likely related to motherhood and fecundity. Objects of memory and valuable items of ‘prestige’, they comprised part of family or group heirlooms and were worn for special ceremonies. They undoubtedly represented the cultural identity of the first farming societies in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant.

New Insights into Use-Wear Development in Bodily Ornaments Through the Study of Ethnographic Collections

“…Studies focused on ornament use-wear on hard and brittle lithic materials are not common (Alarashi 2016), despite the abundance of studies focused on gemstone technology (e.g., Groman-Yaroslavski and Bar-Yosef Mayer 2015; Gwinnett and Gorelick 1979;Kenoyer 1997;Roux 2000;Roux et al 1995;Sax and Ji 2013). Quartz materials have received more attention in use-wear studies as flaked lithic tools (Clemente Conte et al 2015;Fernández-Marchena and Ollé 2016;Ollé et al 2016).…”

A heart-shaped bone artifact from Körtiktepe

“…A rich number of ritual objects and grave goods were recorded in every space, trench, layer and cultural sequence of Körtiktepe. The cultural assemblages from this enormous PPNA site were extremely rich and diverse (Özkaya, 2004Özkaya & San, 2002Özkaya & San, , 2003Özkaya & Şahin, 2018Özkaya et al, 2008, 2010, 2016. Beside the use of selective and sporadic raw materials, commonly available raw materials including verities of animal bones were also widely used in manufacturing activities.…”

“…However, by far no direct evidence of such symbolic application of heart-shaped objects was recorded from any prehistoric context. While looking at the prehistoric records of West Asia, it is observed that only a few Neolithic sites including Tell Halula, Abu Hureyra and Çatalhöyük yielded a very few heart-like or semi-heart shaped stone beads (Bains, 2012;Alarashi, 2016). However, by far, heart-like or heart-shaped bone artifact has not yet been reported from any Neolithic settlement in West Asia.…”

Pre‐Pottery Clay Innovation in the Zagros Foothills

“…; Chataigner and Gratuze ). Rare minerals, such as carnelian and turquoise, can be found in the Alborz mountain range in the north of Iran (Beale ; Alarashi ; Richardson ). This wide range of mineral resources was utilized by the early inhabitants of the region and plays a crucial role in our understanding of materials and materiality in the eastern Fertile Crescent.…”

“…Farther afield, materials such as obsidian are abundantly common in the highly volcanic region of southern and eastern Turkey along the Anatolian Plate, and to the east in Armenia (Cauvin et al 1998;Chataigner and Gratuze 2014). Rare minerals, such as carnelian and turquoise, can be found in the Alborz mountain range in the north of Iran (Beale 1973;Alarashi 2016;Richardson 2017). This wide range of mineral resources was utilized by the early inhabitants of the region and plays a crucial role in our understanding of materials and materiality in the eastern Fertile Crescent.…”