Editing Jericho (section)

=====Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)=====
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) was a period of about 1.4 millennia, from 7220 to 5850&nbsp;BCE{{clarify|reason=Leaves two substantial gaps, one -, one +: if PPNB covers 9,500-9000, and PPN altogether ends around 6500, that leaves 1780 years belonging nowhere (9000-7220), and extends PPN from the stated 6500 by 650 years to 5850 BC. Must be addressed.|date=October 2021}} (though [[carbon-14]]-dates are few and early). The following are PPNB cultural features:{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}
* Expanded range of domesticated plants
* Possible [[Domestic sheep|domestication of sheep]]
* Apparent [[cult (religion)|cult]] involving the preservation of human skulls, with facial features reconstructed using [[plaster]], and eyes set with shells in some cases
[[File:Fertile crescent Neolithic B circa 7500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Area of the [[Fertile Crescent]], {{Circa|7500 BC}}, with main sites. Jericho was a foremost site of the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] period. The area of [[Mesopotamia]] proper was not yet settled by humans.]]

After a few centuries, the first settlement was abandoned. After the PPNA settlement phase, there was a settlement hiatus of several centuries, then the PPNB settlement was founded on the eroded surface of the [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]]. This second settlement, established in 6800&nbsp;BCE, perhaps represents the work of an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture. Artifacts dating from this period include ten [[plastered human skulls]], painted so as to reconstitute the individuals' features.<ref name=Ringp367/> These represent either [[teraphim]] or the first example of [[portrait]]ure in [[art history]],{{dubious|reason=see [[Tell Awad]] and discussion on Jericho's talk page|date=August 2013}} and it is thought that they were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried.<ref name=Freedmanp689/><ref name=Janson>Janson and Janson, 2003.</ref>

The architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bonding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around a central courtyard. There is one big room ({{convert|6.5|x|4|m|1|abbr=on|lk=out}}{{dubious|reason=conversion via template displays unwarranted (false) precision|date=February 2018}} and {{convert|7|x|3|m|1|abbr=on|lk=out}}){{dubious|reason=conversion via template displays unwarranted (false) precision|date=February 2018}} with internal divisions; the rest are small, presumably used for storage. The rooms have red or pinkish [[terrazzo]]-floors made of lime. Some impressions of mats made of reeds or rushes have been preserved. The courtyards have clay floors.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

Kathleen Kenyon interpreted one building as a [[shrine]]. It contained a niche in the wall. A chipped pillar of volcanic stone that was found nearby might have fitted into this niche.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

The dead were buried under the floors or in the rubble fill of abandoned buildings. There are several collective burials. Not all the skeletons are completely articulated, which may point to a time of exposure before burial. A [[human skull|skull]] cache contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed and the faces covered with plaster; [[cowry|cowries]] were used as eyes. A total of ten skulls were found. Modelled skulls were found in [[Tell Ramad]] and [[Beisamoun]] as well.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

Other finds included flints, such as arrowheads (tanged or side-notched), finely denticulated sickle-blades, [[Burin (lithic flake)|burin]]s, scrapers, a few [[tranchet axe]]s, [[obsidian]], and green obsidian from an unknown source. There were also [[Quern-stone|querns]], hammerstones, and a few ground-stone axes made of greenstone. Other items discovered included dishes and bowls carved from soft limestone, spindle whorls made of stone and possible loom weights, spatulae and drills, stylised anthropomorphic plaster figures, almost life-size, [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] and [[Theriomorphism|theriomorphic]] clay figurines, as well as shell and malachite beads.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kujit |first=Ian |title=Jericho |publisher=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-973578-5 |editor-last=Silberman |editor-first=Neil Asher |edition=2 |volume=2 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA166}}</ref>

In the late 4th millennium BCE, Jericho was occupied during Neolithic 2{{dubious|Neol. 2 seems to be equivalent with PPNB, which ends long before M4 BCE. Unless pottery appeared at Jericho later than M4, this is a mistake AND THIS BELONGS EITHER UNDER CHALCOLITHIC OR BRONZE AGE.|date=February 2016}} and the general character of the remains on the site link it culturally with Neolithic 2 (or PPNB) sites in the West Syrian and Middle Euphrates groups. This link is established by the presence of rectilinear mud-brick buildings and plaster floors that are characteristic of the age.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}