A rare example of rock and megalithic art has recently been identified in northern Israel, including a curious face carved out of the rock.
Credit: Prof. Gonen Sharon / Tel-Hai College
The find is part of a massive project to study the dolmens scattered in the Golan and Galilee area, whose antiquity dates back to 4,200 years. “They are ancient burials and were built by a group of people of whom all we know is that they erected these structures,” explains Gonen Sharon, one of the study’s authors.
Decorating these megaliths, the image of a herd of animals stands out, in what would be the first example of zoomorphic rock art in the area.
“Unlike Europe and other parts of the world, rock art has rarely been reported in the context of the Levantine dolmens,” says the expert.
According to the researchers, the horned animals in these panels are the earliest bovine motifs that have been reported in the non-arid northern parts of Israel. Credit: Yaniv Berman / Israel Antiquities Authority
However, one of the things that caught the most attention was what appears to be a face carved on the outside of a cornerstone, located in the center of a circle of minor rocks, and found in the Qiryat Shemona dolmen field.
Credit: Miki Peleg/Israel Antiquities Authority
“These lines are precisely positioned to fit the general shape of the cornerstone and to resemble a human face: the two pairs of short lines mark the eyes, and the long line represents the figure’s mouth. Of course, this is one of many possible explanations for the location and meaning of these carved lines,” the researchers detail, adding that the facial expression is reminiscent of the modern smiley face emoji 🙂
One of a kind
According to the authors of the discovery, and assuming that the face is artificial, it would be unique in its kind:
“We have not been able to establish parallels for this face in the context of the dolmens anywhere, and that these structures are numerous in the Levant and outside that region”.
The question remains, for what purpose did ancient people turn stone into a smiling face? Perhaps it was an unknown cult symbol, Israeli archaeologists suggest.
Source: Times of Israel
