La función de la iconografía en las culturas calcolíticas del Levante meridional: una lectura a partir del concepto de esferas de interacción

Abstract

The Chalcolithic of the southern Levant extends from 4500 to 3800/3600 BC, corresponding to the Ghassulian and Golanian archaeological cultures. One of the main features of these two cultures is their iconographic expressions which, besides their quantity, decorate vessels and other objects of different materials and typology. The main goal of this article is to propose that part of these iconographic motifs could have been symbols that were part of a common code that favored interactions between the different regions of the southern Levant. Likewise, it is suggested that by the end of this period such a code could have been gradually appropriated by an increasingly restricted sector of society, possibly the village leaders. To explore this possibility, the iconographic repertoire has been analyzed following the approach of interaction spheres.