Episode 140 - The Plaster Skulls of Jericho

Are you ready for SKULLZ ‘n’ WALLZ?

In 1953, archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon and her team uncovered human skulls covered with plaster and decorated with shells to resemble human faces. These Neolithic artifacts may be one of the earliest known examples of human portraits. In this sponsored episode, we’ll dig into the discovery, the site of Jericho itself, and the lives of the people who buried the skulls in the first place.

• Dame Kathleen Kenyon’s Excavations (msu.edu)

• Biography of Dame Kathleen Kenyon (Archaeology Magazine)

• The John Garstang Excavations (University of Liverpool)

• Jericho (worldhistory.org)

• The Jericho Skull (National Geographic)

• The Jericho Skull reconstruction (The British Museum)

• Early History of Jericho (Auja Ecological Center)

• Why Walls? (Time Magazine)

• Canaanite and Lebanese DNA (The New Scientist)

• DNA study at Jericho (American Journal of Human Genetics)

Image: Jericho Skull reconstruction. British Museum, via Sketchfab