Sunday, December 08, 2024

The Oldest Guy In The Louvre

We saw several of these statues at the Louvre in Paris.  They are from 'Ain Ghazal, in Amman, Jordan.  They are some of the oldest large-sized statues ever discovered., dating back to approximately 9,000 years ago!

This was the text included on the plaque beside the statue:


"Statue from 'Ain Ghazal
(Jordan)

Discovered at 'Ain Ghazal during the joint Jordanian-American archaeological excavations carried out in 1985, this statue subsequently underwent conservation treatment in Washington at the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical Laboratory from 1985 to 1996 before being loaned to the Louvre for a period of 30 years.

At 9,000 years old, this is the oldest work on display in the museum.

'Ain Ghazal (the 'Spring of the Gazelles') was founded in the 8th millennium BC and prospered for 2,000 years. The statue belongs to what is known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, a Neolithic culture that existed during the 7th millennium BC throughout the entire Fertile Crescent region. Structures dating from this period were produced using plaster obtained through the calcination of local gypsum, by means of primitive pyrotechnics.

New practices emerged from new ways of thinking: the skulls of certain bodies - possibly those of local leaders - were treated with an outer layer of plaster or clay and preserved separately, which seems to suggest the existence of some form of ancestor worship. Almost 30 plaster statues, including this one, were discovered in shallow ditches at 'Ain Ghazal. These take the form of full-length statues or busts, which can be either single- or double-headed. All of these effigies were designed to stand upright.

They were buried in small groups, on separate occasions.

We do not know their meaning, with their purpose probably being an imaginary or ritualistic one, but we can assume that they were intended to encourage community cohesion.

In 1997 the Louvre was given the opportunity to display the 'Ain Ghazal statue thanks to an agreement with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. This was the first time that an artwork belonging to - and still owned by - a Near Eastern country was placed on display alongside the Louvre's permanent collections.

The work is on loan for a period of 30 years, which may be renewed tacitly. In exchange, the Directorate of French Museums and the Musée du Louvre contributed to the conservation treatment and presentation of a monument in Jerash (Jordan): the limestone and painted stucco sanctuary built during the 2nd century BC and replaced by a Roman temple, which can be seen there today.

This sanctuary was rediscovered by an archaeological team from the Institut Français du Proche-Orient, who offered to help reconstruct it."

Pretty amazing stuff, these antiquities. 


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2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Sorry, no post on this day.
2018: La Rive Gauche
2017: Where Broken Hearts Reside
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