The Jericho skulls and Neolithic ancestor practices

Record summary

Kathleen Kenyon’s Jericho excavations documented plastered human skulls and related Neolithic mortuary evidence, providing a major reference point for research on ancestor practices in the southern Levant. The finds are relevant to comparisons of burial treatment, household ritual, identity and changing relationships between the living and the dead. Their presence is well established, but the social meanings of facial modeling, display, reburial and selection remain debated. Chronological interpretation also depends on distinguishing individual contexts and phases rather than treating all plastered skulls as one uniform practice.