The two-headed statues from the oldest temples in the world, dating back more than 8,000 years, were unearthed during excavations in the Neolithic settlement of Ain Ghazal, near the modern capital of Jordan, Amman in 1983.
Who were these creatures who visited prehistoric Jordan, a place at the crossroads of ancient human cultures?
Mysterious realistic, almost natural plaster statues are largely anonymous. They lack any weapons and typical gender characteristics.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of multi-room stone houses with wooden roofs, plastered walls, floors and courtyards. They also unearthed cooking chambers with food debris, stone tools, stone and clay figurines, and graves.
It flourished in the Neoclassical Neolithic for almost 2000 years. By 6200 BC. the settlement grew, occupying almost 40 hectares, which is almost 4 times the size of today's Jericho, just 48 km from it.
Indeed, Ain Ghazal was one of the largest "cities in the Neolithic Middle East."
Ruins of Ain-Ghazal.
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In 1984, archaeologists examined the side of a bulldozer made several years ago during the construction of a highway. They found the edge of a large pit about 2.5 meters below the surface, in which fragments of plaster statues were visible.
More than 30 human figurines found in the prehistoric village of Ain Ghazal had some strange features. Almost no one had a head or a body; there were either disembodied heads or headless bodies.
This practice is confirmed not only by Ain Ghazal, but also by other similar places in the southern Levant.
All of these figurines are created from clay containing limestone powder mixed with lime plaster.
They are among the oldest monumental artifacts ever found. Their size varies from small, from 0.5 to 1 meter in height to almost natural figures.
Figures from Ain Ghazal.
Their large, elliptical eyes are unique, and their small ears indicate that they are depictions of an unknown ancient race as witnessed by the locals of prehistoric Jordan.
Many fragments of these ancient artifacts were misplaced and badly damaged, and the assembly of the statues was difficult and time consuming.
Sometimes the broken edges of 2 pieces can be easily picked up like puzzle pieces. But the edges of many fragments were heavily blurred, and this was not always possible.
Statues in the museum.
In some cases, reeds or twine preserved on the interior surfaces of the statues are used to determine where the joints should be made. After the fragments were identified, the conservatives used a special type of glue to reattach them. The adhesive can be removed if further preservation is required in the future.
Even after many months of careful work, the statue could not be completely restored. Conservatives filled in the gaps with a “dough” of acrylic resin, glass microcapsules, and cellulose powder. They pushed new areas with watercolors for viewers to distinguish them from ancient fragments.
Almost nothing is known about these mysterious statues and the Neolithic artists who created these statues.