The Skulls of Jericho

February 15, 2026·54 min·5 clips

we bury our dead? How do we do all these other social things that we

The episode opens in 1953. Archaeologists are busy at an ancient site atop a small hill, with workmen nearby and the sounds of digging as structures and artifacts begin to appear from an extraordinary arid, yet fertile landscape. The Jericho skull becomes the main example. The host asks the guest to explain the eyes, and that detail drives much of the discussion. Several of the skulls use shell for the eyes. The guest points out that a few from Jericho are shell, and the Yiftahel examples are shell as well. Eye treatment varies from skull to skull. Some are shown with eyes open, while others are closed. The Tel Aswad skulls are closed-eyed. The Baisamun skulls are closed-eyed too. The Kauri shell skull is brought in as another case, sometimes read as sleepiness and sometimes as closed eyes. When the eyes are open, they are generally made from shell, stone, or bitumen. The Kauri shell example is identified as the Ashmolean one. The host keeps circling back to the Jericho skull. In the right eye, a vertical black line sits in the middle of the white shell, and that detail leads the guest toward a theory about the pupil. The guest says the pupils seem vertical, almost animal-like. Foxes, birds of prey like vultures, snakes, and some cats are used as comparisons. Those animals are linked to predation and to the broader question of why the makers chose that look. The episode also recalls that these skulls could be given ears, lips, eyebrows, and paint, which makes the eye treatment stand out even more. The discussion then moves toward the idea of an interplay with communal and ritual spaces.

As heard by us

A close look at Jericho's skulls and how shell, stone, and bitumen were used to make a face.

The Jericho skull anchors the piece, and the thread stays on a single question: how did these ancient makers give a skull a face? It moves cleanly from shell eyes and open or closed lids to the black line in the right eye, then widens to Jericho, Yiftahel, Tel Aswad, Baisamun,…

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A Jericho skull, shell eyes, and a very pointed question about pupils.

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