Special Display: The Star of Ghassul
At the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum
- October 7 2021
- Curator: Fawzi Ibrahim
- Rockefeller Archaeological Museum
One of the earliest examples of the fresco technique, some 6,000 years old, was discovered at Teleilat Ghassul northeast of the Dead Sea.
The finds at this site had a profound impact on archaeology and played a key role in defining the culture and the limits of the Chalcolithic period. In our region, Chalcolithic society, made up of famers and shepherds, gave rise to the world’s first copper masters.
The eight-rayed star comes from a huge wall painting in one of the houses at the site. Painted on light plaster using red, black, white, and yellow pigments, it has a diameter of 1.84 meters. Presumably it represents the sun or some other celestial body, and may have been associated with the seasons or the cycle of life; perhaps it symbolized an ancient deity. The room in which the wall painting was found is thought to have served as a ritual shrine within ordinary residential buildings.
In 1936, four years after the site’s discovery, the fresco with the star was brought to the Rockefeller Museum. Recently restored and preserved for future generations, it can now be viewed in all its splendor in the Museum’s Southern Gallery.
The Star of Ghassul. Teleilat Ghassul, late Chalcolithic period, 6,000 Before Present. Fresco: plaster and pigments. Israel Antiquities Authority. Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Laura Lachman
- Oct 21Oct 22
- Sep 20Sep 21Sep 27Sep 28Oct 05Oct 18Oct 19Oct 21Oct 22Oct 25Oct 26
- Sep 23Sep 30Oct 07Oct 14Oct 21Oct 22Oct 28
- Sep 19Sep 26Oct 10Oct 24Oct 31
- Sep 21Sep 28Oct 05Oct 19Oct 26
- Sep 19Sep 23Sep 26Sep 30Oct 07Oct 10Oct 14Oct 28Oct 31
- Sep 16Sep 19Sep 23Sep 26Sep 30Oct 07Oct 10Oct 14Oct 28Oct 31
- Sep 23Sep 30Oct 07Oct 14Oct 28
- Sep 24Oct 01Oct 08Oct 15Oct 29
- Sep 24Oct 01Oct 08Oct 15Oct 29
- Sep 17Sep 24Oct 01Oct 08Oct 15Oct 29
- Oct 29
- Sep 05Sep 10Sep 12Oct 29