Decorating the Neolithic: an evaluation of the use of plaster in the enhancement of daily life in the middle pre-pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant

Clarke, Joanne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7954-6561 (2012) Decorating the Neolithic: an evaluation of the use of plaster in the enhancement of daily life in the middle pre-pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 22 (2). pp. 177-186. ISSN 1474-0540

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Abstract

During the Middle Pre-pottery Neolithic B in the southern Levant the use of lime plaster in both ritual and domestic contexts increased significantly relative to previous periods. Its properties of whiteness, purity, plasticity and antisepsis would have made it a natural choice for decorating, and through the act of colouring disparate categories of objects were linked together. Plaster appears to have transcended its own inherent value as a material due to its interconnectedness with mortuary ritual. Because of its ubiquity, this socially ascribed value was accessible to everyone. This article will claim that plaster, and the act of plastering both ritual and domestic contexts played a key role in the creation and maintenance of community cohesion and social well-being.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Centres > Centre for African Art and Archaeology Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Art History and World Art Studies
Depositing User:	Katherine Humphries
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2012 15:56
Last Modified:	16 May 2024 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/37787
DOI:	10.1017/S0959774312000224

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